Research projects
Software engineering
Serious Software Evolution, Refactoring, Improvement of Operational & Usable Systems – Serious
Period: 09/2005-08/2007
Researchers: Juha Gustafsson, Inkeri Verkamo
Funding: EU/ITEA, Tekes
Background: Many software-intensive systems are maintained and improved throughout their life cycle. In the In the design phase , the desired functions and quality features are built into the software. After they have been implemented, software is often enhanced e.g. by adding new features . This leads to a gradual deterioration of quality, unless the evolution is factored into the engineering process. To find a durable solution to problems caused by deterioration, quality features have to be taken into consideration throughout the product life cycle . On the one hand, the consolidation of quality and improvement cuts back maintenance costs, and on the other hand, it extends the the life cycle of the software. The main goals of the project are:
- To develop methods for software analysis and for incorporating refactoring as an integrated part of the software process.
- To specify software architecture quality so that it can be taken into consideration from the start of the engineering process to the end of the product life cycle
- To test tools and methods on industrial software products. The focus lays especially on quality metrics forsoftware product families .
Main events during 2006:
- 03/2006: finished the The State-of-the-Art report finished
- 09/2006: The metrics handbook finished
- 12/2006: First version of the refactoring handbook finished