Francesca Arcelli

A comparison of reverse engineering tools based on design pattern decomposition

The usefulness of design patterns in forward engineering is already well-known and several tools provide support for their application in the development of software systems. While the role of design patterns in reverse engineering is still argued primarily due to their informal definition which leads to various possible implementations of each pattern. One of the most discussed aspects related to design patterns is about the need of their formalization according to the drawbacks this can represent. Formalization leads to the identification of the so-called sub-patterns, which are the recurring fundamental elements design patterns are composed of. In this paper we analyze the role sub-patterns play in two reverse engineering tools: FUJABA and SPQR. Attention is focused on how sub-patterns are exploited to define and to detect design patterns. To emphasize the similarities and differences between the two approaches, the composite design pattern is considered as example.

Components in an adaptive and QoS-based architecture

This paper aims to present the main software components we have developed in the context of the ARM (Adaptive Resource Management) project at University of Milano-Bicocca for an adaptive, distributed, service-oriented architecture. The goal of ARM is to manage the resources of a system in a way that enables it to dynamically identify and execute services on the available resources. Our approach chooses the most appropriate resource that is able to execute a service with the requested qualities of service (QoSs). To achieve adaptivity, ARM uses reflection at the architectural level. Exploiting the reflective representation of the systems resources and their related QoSs, ARM may organize them accordingly to various criteria and evaluate them based on their QoSs features and their potentiality in executing a requested service with the requested QoSs. To validate the ARM concepts, a prototype based on the peer-to-peer paradigm is currently under development. It aims to provide an adaptive support when using the resources available in our department.

Elemental Design Patterns Recognition In Java

The decomposition of design patterns into simpler elements may reduce significantly the creation of variants in forward engineering, while it increases the possibility of identifying applied patterns in reverse engineering. Nevertheless, there are few reverse engineering tools that exploit the decomposition of patterns (i.e., FUJABA, SPQR). The SPQR approach introduces a catalog of elemental design patterns (EDP) and a rule set based on sigma-calculus through which EDPs are defined and composed into design patterns. Considering the SPQR approach particularly interesting, we propose a novel solution for defining and detecting EDPs and, further, design patterns. Our approach defines EDPs as logical functions of eight symbolic variables, each variable representing a method call (e.g., method name, method signature, method declaration, this reference, super reference) or a class property (superclass, same family, same object). An EDP detector has been developed based on this approach, representing a starting point for future developments towards design pattern recognition in the reverse engineering context

Can design pattern detection be useful for legacy systemmigration towards SOA

Legacy systems maintenance involves different decisions, often very complex and sometimes requiring high costs and time. Hence studying and applying the right system modernization technique becomes very important for systems evolution. One of the solutions often adopted to modernize a system is the possibility to migrate it towards a SOA architecture. A lot of works in the literature have been done in this direction, which propose methodologies that provide some kind of migration strategy. In the migration process one of the main tasks is related to system comprehension. We often have to analyze not well documented systems, where it is difficult to identify the components which could become services or to recognize the possible problems we could face during the migration process. Software architecture reconstruction is certainly a relevant key activity, which is used for these purposes. In this paper we explore if design pattern detection could be also useful in the migration process: knowing that some design patterns have been applied in the system could give relevant hints to take decisions during migration.

Reference Architecture and Framework

M. Adorni, F. Arcelli, S. Bandini, L. Baresi, C. Batini, A. Bianchi, D. Bianchini, M. Brioschi, A. Caforio, A. Cali, P. Cappellari, C. Cappiello, T. Catarci, A. Corallo, V. De Antonellis, C. Franza, G. Giunta, A. Limonta, G. Lorenzo, P. Losi, A. Maurino, M. Melideo, D. Micucci, S. Modafferi, E. Mussi, L. Negri, C. Pandolfo, B. Pernici, P. Plebani, D. Ragazzi, C. Raibulet, M. Riva, N. Simeoni, C. Simone, G. Solazzo, F. Tisato, R. Torlone, G. Vizzari, and A. Zilli

Design Pattern Detection for Reverse Engineering

The main goal of the workshop is to address the issues related to design patterns identification for design recovery focusing on the role of the reverse engineering in identifying the sub-elements of the design patterns that can improve their detection.

Mapping the QoS of the Services on the QoS of the Systems' Resources in an Adaptive Resource Management System

We propose an approach that aims to provide services that are able to adapt at run-time to the quality of services (QoSs) required and expected by the users in the context of an adaptive resource management system. When requiring a service, users may specify additional information which is of two types: QoSs (i.e., the print resolution or the transmission bandwidth) and properties (i.e., the location of the resource that provides the service or the provider of the service). In the adaptivity process, both types of information are mapped on the QoSs and properties of the underlying systems resources, which are explicitly represented through architectural reflection. As a consequence, resources try to adapt their QoSs to those required by the current service

VCS-analyzer for software evolution empirical analysis

Version Control Systems (VCSs) provide historical information that can be used to perform deep analyses on the evolution of a software project, with the aim of enhancing the quality of the system and predicting software evolution.

Unifying Software and Data Reverse Engineering: a Pattern Based Approach

At the state of the art, objects oriented applications use data structured in relational databases by exploiting some patterns, like the Domain Model and Data Mapper. These approaches aim to represent data in the OO way, using objects for representing data entities. Furthermore, we point out that the identification of these patterns can show the link between the object model and the conceptual entities, exploiting their associations to the physical data objects. The aim of this paper is to present a unified perspective for the definition of an integrated approach for software and data reverse engineering. The discussion is carried out by means of a sample application and a comparison with results from current tools.

An Eclipse Plug-in for the Java PathFinder Runtime Verification System

Java PathFinder (JPF) is an explicit state model checker developed by the Automated Software Engineering Group of NASA of the AMES Research Center (California). Eclipse is probably the most important and used Java integrated developing environment (IDE) and not only; it is a framework/environment that can be easily extended with new functionalities by exploiting its plug-in mechanism. Through a JPF plug-in for Eclipse it is possible to integrate powerful model checking and testing capabilities into the development environment. This paper presents the re-design of the standalone version of JPF towards an Eclipse plug-in exploiting and outlining in this way the advantages of an open source development