Beatriz Mora

Effective use of ontologies in software measurement

Ontologies are frequently used in the context of software and technology engineering. These can be grouped into two main categories, depending on whether they are used to describe the knowledge of a domain (domain ontologies) or whether they are used as software artifacts in software development processes. This paper presents some experiences and lessons learnt from the effective use of an ontology for Software Measurement, called software measurement ontology (SMO). The SMO was developed some years ago as a result of a thorough analysis of the software measurement domain. Its use as a domain ontology is presented first, a description of how the SMO can serve as a conceptual basis for comparing international standards related to software measurement. Second, the paper describes several examples of the applications of SMO as a software artifact. In particular, we show how the SMO can be instantiated to define a data quality model for Web portals, and also how it can be used to define a Domain-Specific Language (DSL) for measuring software entities. These examples show the significant role that ontologies can play as software artifacts in the realm of model-driven engineering and domain-specific modeling.

Graphical versus textual software measurement modelling: an empirical study

Model-driven Engineering (MDE) has attained great importance in both the Software Engineering industry and the research community, where it is now widely used to provide a suitable approach with which to improve productivity when developing software artefacts. In this scenario, measurement models (software artefacts) have become a fundamental point in improvement of productivity, where MDE and Software Measurement can reap mutual benefits. MDE principles and techniques can be used in software measurement to build more automatic and generic solutions, and to achieve this, it is fundamental to be able to develop software measurement models. To facilitate this task, a domain-specific language named “Software Measurement Modelling Language” (SMML) has been developed. This paper tackles the question of whether the use of SMML can assist in the definition of software measurement models. An empirical study was conducted, with the aim of verifying whether SMML makes it easier to construct measurement models which are more usable and maintainable as regards textual notation. The results show that models which do not use the language are more difficult—in terms of effort, correctness and efficiency—to understand and modify than those represented with SMML. Additional feedback was also obtained, to verify the suitability of the graphical representation of each symbol (element or relationship) of SMML.

Software Generic Measurement Framework Based on MDA

Currently, in order to obtain high quality software products it is necessary to carry out a good software processes management in which measurement is a fundamental factor. Due to the great diversity of entities involved in software measurement, a consistent framework to integrate the different entities in the measurement process is required. In this paper the Software Measurement Framework (SMF) is presented, which supports the measurement of any type of software entity through the metamodels which depict them. In this framework, any software entity in any domain could be measured with a common Software Measurement metamodel and by means of QVT transformations. This work explains the three fundamental elements of the Software Measurement Framework (conceptual architecture, technological aspects and method). These elements have all been adapted to the MDE paradigm and to MDA technology, taking advantage of their benefits within the field of software measurement. Furthermore an example which illustrates the frameworks application to a concrete domain is furthermore shown.

Model-Driven Software Measurement Framework: A Case Study

Measurement is an important factor in the process life cycle since it controls issues and deficiencies during software maintenance and development projects.The model-driven engineering (MDE) paradigm may be extremely useful in a software measurement process owing to the considerable amount of entity types and models involved, and a model-driven Software Measurement Framework (SMF) has previously been developed with this goal in mind. This framework facilitates the measurement of any type of software entity.This paper presents the use of SMF in an IT company, in order to demonstrate the utility and importance of the application of model-driven software measurement in the real world.

JISBD2007-08: Software generic measurement framework based on MDA

Currently, in order to obtain high quality software products it is necessary to carry out a good software processes management in which measurement is a fundamental factor. Due to the great diversity of entities involved in software measurement, a consistent framework to integrate the different entities in the measurement process is required. In this paper the Software Measurement Framework (SMF) is presented, which supports the measurement of any type of software entity through the metamodels which depict them. In this framework, any software entity in any domain could be measured with a common Software Measurement metamodel and by means of QVT transformations. This work explains the three fundamental elements of the Software Measurement Framework (conceptual architecture, technological aspects and method). These elements have all been adapted to the MDE paradigm and to MDA technology, taking advantage of their benefits within the field of software measurement. Furthermore an example which illustrates the frameworks application to a concrete domain is furthermore shown.