Frank Lüders

Reuse with Software Components - A Survey of Industrial State of Practice

Software is often built from pre-existing, reusable components, but there is a lack of knowledge regarding how efficient this is in practice. In this paper we therefore present qualitative results from an industrial survey on current practices and preferences, highlighting differences and similarities between development with reusable components, development without reusable components, and development of components for reuse. Component reuse does happen, but the findings are still partly disappointing: currently, many potential benefits are not achieved. Still, the findings are encouraging: there are indeed good, reusable components properly verified and documented, and mature organizations who manage to reuse these components efficiently, e.g. by leveraging the previous component verification. We also find that replacing one component for another is not necessarily complicated and costly.

Generic Skills in Software Engineering Master Thesis Projects: Towards Rubric-Based Evaluation

There has been much recent interest in how to help students in higher education develop their generic skills, especially since this is a focus of the Bologna process that aims to standardize European higher education. However, even though the Master thesis is the final and often crucial part of a graduate degree and requires many generic skills very little research has directly focused on them. In particular, there is a lack of such knowledge for engineering education programs. In this paper we present results from a survey where we asked 23 students from three different Swedish universities about which generic skills are needed and developed in a Master thesis project in Software Engineering. One outcome of our analysis is that there is a lack of understanding on how to define, and thus examine, generic skills in software engineering thesis projects.

Support for Different Roles in Software Engineering Master's Thesis Projects

Like many engineering programs in Europe, the final part of most Swedish software engineering programs is a longer project in which the students write a Masters thesis. These projects are often conducted in cooperation between a university and industry, and the students often have two supervisors, one at the university and one in industry. In particular, the Bologna Process that is currently underway to align different higher educational programs in Europe discusses industrial Masters theses as a major type of thesis project. However, there is a lack of knowledge on how best to support these projects and the different stakeholders involved. This paper presents a study where students and supervisors from software engineering Masters thesis projects at three different Swedish universities are interviewed. The intention of the study is to explore what the major problems of different stakeholders are during a project and to investigate what type of support is needed. Based on the interview results, a support model is defined, which outlines the different types of support that are needed for different roles in Masters thesis projects.

Using Software Component Models and Services in Embedded Real-Time Systems

While the use of software component models has become popular in the development of desktop applications and distributed information systems, such models have not been widely used in the domain of embedded real-time systems. Presumably, this is due to the requirements such systems have to meet with respect to predictable timing and limited use of resources. There is a considerable amount of research on component models for embedded real-time systems that focuses on source code components, statically configured systems, and relatively narrow application domains. This paper explores the alternative approach of using a mainstream component model based on binary components. The effects of using the model on timing and resource usage have been measured by implementing example applications both with and without using the model. In addition, the use of a prototype tool for supporting software component services has been investigated in the same manner

Adopting a component-based software architecture for an industrial control system: a case study

This chapter presents a case study from a global company developing a new generation of programmable controllers to replace several existing products. The system needs to incorporate support for a large number of I/O systems, network types, and communication protocols. To leverage its global development resources and the competency of different development centers, the company decided to adopt a component-based software architecture that allows I/O and communication functions to be realized by independently developed components. The architecture incorporates a subset of a standard component model. The process of redesigning the software architecture is presented, along with the experiences made during and after the project. An analysis of these experiences shows that the component-based architecture effectively supports distributed development and that the effort required for implementing certain functionality has been substantially reduced while, at the same time, the system’s performance and other run-time quality attributes have been kept on a satisfactory level.

Adopting a software component model in real-time systems development

Component-based software engineering (CBSE) and the use of (de-facto) standard component models have gained popularity in recent years, particularly in the development of desktop and server-side software. This paper presents a motivation for applying CBSE to realtime systems and discusses the consequences of adopting a software component model in the development of such systems. Specifically, the consequences of adopting Microsofts COM, DCOM, and .NET models are analyzed. The most important aspects of these models are discussed in an incremental fashion. The analysis considers both real-time systems in general, and a real-life industrial control system where some aspects the COM model have been adopted. It is concluded that adopting these models makes it possible to meet real-time requirements, but that some overhead must be expected and that special precautions may have to be taken to prevent loss of real-time predictability.Component-based software engineering (CBSE) and the use of (de-facto) standard component models have gained popularity in recent years, particularly in the development of desktop and server-side software. This paper presents a motivation for applying CBSE to realtime systems and discusses the consequences of adopting a software component model in the development of such systems. Specifically, the consequences of adopting Microsofts COM, DCOM, and .NET models are analyzed. The most important aspects of these models are discussed in an incremental fashion. The analysis considers both real-time systems in general, and a real-life industrial control system where some aspects the COM model have been adopted. It is concluded that adopting these models makes it possible to meet real-time requirements, but that some overhead must be expected and that special precautions may have to be taken to prevent loss of real-time predictability.

Implementation of a software engineering course for computer science students

Experience from industry shows that graduates in computer science generally lack many of the skills required in software development projects. This presents a challenge to academic institutions. We describe our experiences in implementing a course in software engineering at a Swedish university. A set of challenges is presented and it is described how these were met using a combination of lectures and project work. The results of the projects, the lessons we have learned, and the feedback from the students are discussed.

Software Components Services for Embedded Real-Time Systems

The use of software component models has become increasingly popular during the last decade, especially in the development of software for desktop applications and distributed information systems. Popular component models for these domains define basic standards for component naming, interfacing, binding, etc., in addition to standardized sets of run-time services oriented towards the application domains they target.

A prototype tool for software component services in embedded real-time systems

The use of software component models has become popular during the last decade, in particular in the development of software for desktop applications and distributed information systems. However, such models have not been widely used in the domain of embedded real-time systems. There is a considerable amount of research on component models for embedded real-time systems, or even narrower application domains, which focuses on source code components and statically configured systems. This paper explores an alternative approach by laying the groundwork for a component model based on binary components and targeting the broader domain of embedded real-time systems. The work is inspired by component models for the desktop and information systems domains in the sense that a basic component model is extended with a set of services for the targeted application domain. A prototype tool for supporting these services is presented and its use illustrated by a control application.

Case study: componentization of an industrial control system

When different business units of an international company are responsible for the development of different parts of a large system, a component-based software architecture may be a good alternative to more traditional, monolithic architectures. The new common control system, developed by ABB to replace several existing control systems, must incorporate support for a large number of I/O systems, communication interfaces, and communication protocols. An activity has therefore been started to redesign the systems architecture, so that I/O and communication components can be implemented by different development centers around the world. This paper reports on experiences from this. effort, describing the system, its current software architecture, the new component-based architecture, and the lessons learned so far.