Fernando Arango Isaza

Pre-conceptual schema: a conceptual-graph-like knowledge representation for requirements elicitation

A simple representation framework for ontological knowledge with dynamic and deontic characteristics is presented. It represents structural relationships (is-a, part/whole), dynamic relationships (actions such as register, pay, etc.), and conditional relationships (if-then-else). As a case study, we apply our representation language to the task of requirements elicitation in software engineering. We show how our pre-conceptual schemas can be obtained from controlled natural language discourse and how these diagrams can be then converted into standard UML diagrams. Thus our representation framework is shown to be a useful intermediate step for obtaining UML diagrams from natural language discourse.

CME – A Web Application Framework Learning Technique Based on Concerns, Micro-Learning and Examples

Nowadays the use of Web Application Frameworks has been the default choice to develop software applications inside the web domain. These frameworks provide many benefits such as: faster development, enhanced security, and clearer structure of code. However, web application frameworks have a high learning curve and each time someone wants to learn a framework, a recurrent question arises: How to reduce that learning curve and be able to use a new web application framework in a short time? Several learning techniques have been used in the context of frameworks; for instance, example-based learning, tutorials, cookbooks, and tools. Nevertheless, those approaches have their own limitations and the question about what is the best way to learn soon those frameworks remains open. In this paper, we introduce a new web application framework learning technique called CME (Concerns, Micro-learning and Examples). This technique defines a customized learning path that a novice developer should follow to learn to use a web application framework. The learning path was built as a mix of concerns, micro-learning and example-based learning concepts. To validate this technique, we carry out a quasi-experiment about a web application framework learning and the development of small web applications with: (i) the use of CME and (ii) the use of a cookbook. The quasi-experiment results showed preliminary evidence that when using CME, novice developers become more operational to develop small web applications in a reduced period of time compared with the use of a cookbook.

Standardizing the Human Interaction in Websites Using Web Application Frameworks

Web Application Frameworks (WAFs) are widely used nowadays to build quality web applications. However, developers have to code views one by one because WAFs offer little support for giving uniformity to the whole set of views. We propose the use of a View Code Generator (VCG) to automatize the process and assure views uniformity. Besides uniformity, our approach also reduces error sources, time to market and improves the resources allocation efficiency in the overall software life-cycle.