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Online ISSN 1751-8814 Print ISSN 1751-8806

IET Software

Volume 4, Issue 4, August 2010

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Volume 4, Issue 4

August 2010

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    • Using a web-based tool to define and implement software process improvement initiatives in a small industrial setting
      • Author(s): I. Garcia ; C. Pacheco ; J. Calvo-Manzano
      • Source: IET Software, Volume 4, Issue 4, p. 237 –251
      • DOI:  10.1049/iet-sen.2009.0045
      • Type: Article
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      • p. 237 –251 (15)
        Top-down process improvement approaches provide a high-level model of what the process of a software development organisation should be. Such models are based on the consensus of a designated working group on how software should be developed or maintained. They are very useful in that they provide general guidelines on where to start improving, and in which order, to people who do not know how to do it. However, the majority of models have only worked in scenarios within large companies. The authors aim to help small software development organisations adopt an iterative approach by providing a process improvement web-based tool. This study presents research into a proposal which states that a small organisation may use this tool to assess and improve their software process, identifying and implementing a set of agile project management practices that can be strengthened using the CMMI-DEV 1.2 model as reference.
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      Component co-evolution and component dependency: speculations and verifications
      • Author(s): L. Yu ; A. Mishra ; S. Ramaswamy
      • Source: IET Software, Volume 4, Issue 4, p. 252 –267
      • DOI:  10.1049/iet-sen.2008.0084
      • Type: Article
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      • p. 252 –267 (16)
        Software component interaction is essential for realising proper software system functions. Such interactions between software components induce interdependencies between multiple components. One effect of such a dependency is co-evolution, wherein changes made to one component also requires corresponding changes to other component(s). This study presents a mathematical framework for representing component co-evolution. Two types of co-evolution, internal co-evolution and external co-evolution are defined for an evolving software component. The component dependency metrics that are related with component co-evolutions are analysed and the correlations between component dependency and component co-evolution are hypothesised. Further, in a quasi-experiment of nine open-source Java projects, component dependencies are measured and component revision histories are mined to verify the speculated correlations.
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      Including both static and dynamic typing in the same programming language
      • Author(s): F. Ortin ; D. Zapico ; J.B.G. Perez-Schofield ; M. Garcia
      • Source: IET Software, Volume 4, Issue 4, p. 268 –282
      • DOI:  10.1049/iet-sen.2009.0070
      • Type: Article
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      • p. 268 –282 (15)
        Dynamic languages are becoming increasingly popular for different software development scenarios such as Web engineering, rapid prototyping or the construction of applications that require runtime adaptiveness. These languages are built on the idea of supporting reasoning about (and customising) program structure, behaviour and environment at runtime. The dynamism offered by dynamic languages is, however, counteracted by two main limitations: no early type error detection and fewer opportunities for compiler optimisations. To obtain the benefits of both dynamically and statically typed languages, the authors have designed the StaDyn programming language that provides both approaches. StaDyn keeps gathering-type information at compile time, even when dynamic variables are used. This type information is used to offer early type error detection, direct interoperation between static and dynamic codes and better runtime performance. Following the Separation of Concerns principle, it is possible to customise the trade-off between runtime flexibility of dynamic typing and safety, performance and robustness of static typing. A runtime performance assessment is presented to show an estimate of the benefits of combining dynamic and static typing in the same programming language.
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      Design principles of web-based distance education system and sample application in Afyon Kocatepe University
      • Author(s): O. Deperlioglu  and  Y. Arslan
      • Source: IET Software, Volume 4, Issue 4, p. 283 –293
      • DOI:  10.1049/iet-sen.2009.0061
      • Type: Article
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      • p. 283 –293 (11)
        In recent years, number of web-based distance education systems has rapidly increased as a result of improvements in the Internet. Universities have an important role in this situation. Having substantial infrastructures in point of accessing the Internet, permanent education staff and system design team has made distance education more attractive for universities. Distance education systems have begun to make their education activities by using tools and services such as electronic books, electronic mails and conference calls. With the increasing number of these methods and by developing them consistently, the structure that covers the whole system was named the web-based distance education system (WBDES). Although there are many data and information about these systems, there is no detailed information about the software-preparing process and obtained experiences. In this study, a universal WBDES that can be used by all distance education entities has been designed. This WBDES is compatible with any institution or organisation and suitable for universal SCORM standards. It includes many features and functions such as student account creation, user roles, lessons, examinations, security applications, student affairs, counselling services, internal communication, executive functions and assessment, etc. With designed systems, a software infrastructure that is necessary for a virtual academic institution is provided. The system is currently used in Afyon Kocatepe University. While designing the system, MS SQL Server 2005, ASP.NET and C#.NET programming languages were used for the database, web interfaces and programming, respectively. Studies and experiments in designing the system were explained in detail.
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      Metamorphic testing of decision support systems: a case study
      • Author(s): F.-C. Kuo ; Z.Q. Zhou ; J. Ma ; G. Zhang
      • Source: IET Software, Volume 4, Issue 4, p. 294 –301
      • DOI:  10.1049/iet-sen.2009.0084
      • Type: Article
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      • p. 294 –301 (8)
        Decision support systems provide critical support to decision makers. These systems are increasingly complex and, as a result, they are very difficult to test because of the lack of an ideal test oracle. Lack of testing may result in poor software quality and wrong decisions being made and, hence, bring serious consequences. In the present study, the authors conduct a case study, where the authors apply a metamorphic testing method to alleviate the oracle problem in testing decision support systems. Experimental results show that metamorphic testing is effective in revealing faults in the absence of an ideal oracle.
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