Adam Steele

A Taxonomy and Visual Notation for Modeling Globally Distributed Requirements Engineering Projects

This paper presents a visual modeling notation for use in planning globally distributed requirements engineering projects. An underlying meta-model defines the elements of the modeling language, including site locations, stakeholder roles, communication flows, critical documents, and supporting tools and repositories. The modeling notation is motivated through the findings of eight in-depth interviews with requirements analysts who had worked on requirements elicitation, analysis, and specification tasks in globally distributed projects. We illustrate the modeling notation with examples drawn from telecommunications, video gaming, retail, and consulting projects. Based on a set of recurring problems and best practices identified in our interviews, the models are then analyzed, and specific recommendations are made to mitigate the identified risks.

Executable visual software modeling---the ZOOM approach

In this paper, we introduce a new executable visual software modeling approach called ZOOM (Z-Based Object Oriented Modeling). ZOOM extends a subset of UML-2 notations by providing UI modeling notations and a formal integration mechanism. ZOOM allows software modeling using both graphical and textual views for its structural, behavioral and UI models. Through a pre-defined event model, ZOOM integrates these models, and provides the runtime execution semantics for both code generation and software animation.

Simulating Global Software Development in a Course Environment

Global software development presents many challenges that are difficult to simulate in a course environment. We present teaching patterns such as remote testing, subordinate role, partitioning, and continuous development that are motivated by industry experience. Our goal is to give students problems that simulate real global software development. Each teaching pattern discusses the educational methodology, student challenges and learning outcomes that provide the students firsthand experience working on projects with remote teams.

Inter-University software engineering using web services

We have been funded by the National Science Foundation [6] to investigate the feasibility of distributing large software engineering projects across multiple universities at remote locations. This paper reports on the use of web services to make such inter-university cooperation feasible. The TRavel Itinerary Planner (TRIP), a year long project, was implemented at three universities: Appalachian State University, North Carolina A&T, and DePaul University. After discussing our methodology based on web services we describe the inter-university cooperation that was achieved on this project. We then describe problems encountered and their solutions and conclude with a brief description of a different project that we will develop during the 2006-2007 academic year.

Developing a pedagogical infrastructure for teaching globally distributed software development

Teaching students about Globally Distributed Software Development (GDSD) is becoming increasingly important as a significant percentage of current projects are being developed by globally distributed teams. We discuss the pedagogical infrastructure used to teach GDSD at DePaul University and its partner institutions. We cover the educational, technical and institutional challenges that need to be resolved in order to successfully partner with globally distributed teaching institutions in order to teach GDSD in a realistic environment.

Exploring game architecture best-practices with classic space invaders

The classic arcade game Space Invaders provides an ideal environment for students to learn about best practices in game software architectures. We discuss the challenges of creating a good game architecture, and show how our problem space is an ideal environment in which to experiment with the challenges and tradeoffs inherent in any software design. We discuss in detail how each student created and engineered their game using good architectural design principles in general and gang-of-four design patterns in particular.

An event-based framework for model integration

Modern driven development (MDD) defines a new approach to develop software system other than programming. MDD emphasizes the model level design by defining the specifications for a software system, and uses automatic tools to generate implementations on specific platforms. In the MDD process, many separate views and models are specified for different parts of the system. In the ZOOM notation, which is a formal notation we proposed to enhance the existing modeling notations and support MDD, the structural, behavioral and UI models are three components for a software model. In this paper, we present a pre-defined event model, processed through an event-driven framework, which integrates these views, and provides the run-time execution model for ZOOM

FuzzyCLIPS and neuro-fuzzy term rewriting for power network control

FuzzyCLIPS has been used in several commercial systems to allow for a rule based expert system shell that will also provide fuzzy reasoning capability. We discuss the use of FuzzyCLIPS and neuro-fuzzy term rewriting to define the network model in the distribution management system (DMS) for the Indonesian State Power system (PLN). Although, DMS is currently implemented by a mixed CLIPS/C++ system, the rules defining the behavior of the system are developed using the framework of object-oriented term-rewriting (OOTR) to guarantee the asynchronous characteristics of the programs execution. Another advantage of using OOTR is that we describe both the power propagation in the network and the alarm conditions, which have to be monitored in a uniform fashion. We show how implementing a fuzzy solution will not only provide a more intuitive approach to the propagation problem, but also a more accurate solution.

Designing process: taming the Web development cycle

In this paper, we present an outline of a process for developing design products. The advantage of having a process for these types of projects is that it allows us to focus on the creative aspects of the project, by reducing team stress. The design process also allows us to integrate the creative aspects of a Web project with the more mundane aspects of software development.