Paul J. Layzell

Service-based software: the future for flexible software

For the past 40 years, the techniques, processes and methods of software development have been dominated by supply-side issues, giving rise to a software industry oriented towards developers rather than users. To achieve the levels of functionality, flexibility and time-to-market required by users, a radical shift is required in the development of software, with a more demand-centric view, leading to software which will be delivered as a service within the framework of an open marketplace. Already, there are some signs that this approach is being adopted by industry, but in a very limited way. We summarise research and a research method which has resulted in a long-term strategic view of software engineering innovation. Based on this foundation, we describe more recent work, which has resulted in an innovative demand-side model for the future of software. We propose a service architecture in which components may be bound instantly, just at the time they are needed, and then the binding may be discarded. A major benefit of this approach is that it leads to highly flexible and agile software that should be able to meet rapidly changing business needs.

The future of software

Companies like British Telecommunications whose business is based on the performance of their software systems, should emphasize accessibility, adaptability, transparency, fail-safe operation, and a human face. Software Producing such software is difficult and involves high costs and risks. Adopting the most appropriate methods, technologies, and tools at just the right time is a major problem for the software industry. Recognition of the critical role played by software in so many aspects of society has therefore led us to pursue the following goals: • Forming a vision of software and software development based on the systematic use of expert judgement and peer review; • Establishing the need for a long-term software-development research agenda; and • Outlining a long-term research agenda that helps meet societys future needs for software that is reliable, adaptable, available when needed, and reasonably priced. Predicting the future is a popular pastime in many disciplines. In the field of software development, the February 1997 Communications offered many personal hopes and visions for the future of computer technology [1]. Authors expressed their personal views relating to particular technologies and applications , including databases [2], the Internet [3], and computational humanities [6]. In another personal view of future needs, Stuart Shapiro [5] examined a number of key software technology publications dating from as far back as the 1960s, concluding we need a more pluralistic approach to software engineering, Society is increasingly dependent on large and complex software systems. Indeed, if many of the current predictions about the Y2K computer problem turn out to be accurate, this dependency will be demonstrated dramatically on January 1, 2000. Users need software that meets stringent requirements, supports a range of interaction styles, can be produced quickly, and can be maintained to keep pace with the ever-increasing demand for functional-ity, quality, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness.

Supporting collaboration in distributed software engineering teams

Software engineering is no longer the preserve of individuals but is essentially a team-based activity involving a wide variety of stakeholders and thus making the need for communication and co-operation an inherent characteristic. Changes in support technology, economic factors and globalisation of the software process is resulting in the geographical separation of personnel. Where such distribution of personnel occurs, it is clear that the quality of the project will be dependent upon the degree of effective communication and co-operation. This paper presents the results from a study of communication and co-operation practices on a range of distributed software projects from an industrial and educational context. It analyses the advantages and disadvantages of distributed software engineering teams and presents the lessons learned from these studies, including team structure, project management, communication and procedures.

Negotiating in service-oriented environments

Buy or rent? This question applies not only to houses and cars, but now to software.

Information systems development: a rule-based approach

This paper seeks to demonstrate an approach to software engineering for information systems that will lead not only to good information system creation, but will also explicitly maintain the representation of the business knowledge so as to allow for more effective system evolution and its active exploitation at run time. A rule-based development environment, known as RUBRIC, is described, which serves as the means of achieving these objectives.

An Architectural model for service-based software with ultra rapid evolution

There is an urgent industrial need for new approaches to software evolution that will lead to far faster implementation of software changes. For the past 40 years, the techniques, processes and methods of software development have been dominated by supply side issues, and as a result the software industry is oriented towards developers rather than users. Existing software maintenance processes are simply too slow to meet the needs of many businesses. To achieve the levels of functionality, flexibility and time to market of changes and updates required by users, a radical shift is required in the development of software, with a more demand-centric view leading to software which will be delivered as a service, within the framework of an open marketplace. Although there are some signs that this approach is being adopted by industry, it is in a very limited and restricted form. We summarise research that has resulted in a long term strategic view of software engineering innovation. Based on this foundation, we describe more recent work that has resulted in an innovative demand-led model for the future of software. We describe a service architecture in which components may be bound instantly, just at the time they are needed and then the binding may be disengaged. Such ultra late binding requires that many non-functional attributes of the software are capable of automatic negotiation and resolution. Some of these attributes have been demonstrated and amplified through a prototype implementation based on existing and available technology.

Using Web service technologies to create an information broker: an experience report

This paper reports on our experiences with using the emerging Web service technologies and tools to create a demonstration information broker system as part of our research into information management in a distributed environment. To provide a realistic context, we chose to study the use of information in the healthcare domain, and this context sets some challenging parameters and constraints for our research and for the demonstration system. In this paper, we both report on the extent to which existing Web service technologies have proved to be mature enough to meet these requirements, and also assess their current limitations.

Organisational considerations for software reuse

Reuse is widely promoted as one of the most promising methods for increasing productivity and quality within software development. Until recently most research into strategies for systematic reuse has focused on solution of the technical issues. Now as companies (mostly IT focused) implement the strategies developed, they find there are other issues which hold back their success, somewhat unrelated to the technical solutions offered. Reuse processes are not simple technologies and methods slotted into a development, like the transition in design notation from traditional approaches to an object-;orientated method. Whereas technology changes involve retraining developers. Reuse requires the whole organisation and funding of development to be revised. If the magnitude of change involved in transitioning an IT organisation is so encompassing, where does this leave the rest of industry which is increasingly reliant on software to support their business process? This paper looks at organisational and management issues raised by the introduction of software reuse to the development process. We identify inhibitors of reuse adoption, look at causes of these and suggest possible solutions. We aim to concisely present all those non-;technical issues that should be considered when introducing a reuse program. Considered also is how these issues affect companies which have IT in only a business support capacity, making this paper relevant throughout industry.

Facilitating program comprehension by mining association rules from source code

Program comprehension is an important part of software maintenance, especially when program structure is complex and documentation is unavailable or outdated. Data mining can produce structural views of source code thus facilitating legacy systems understanding. This paper presents a method for mining association rules from code aiming at capturing program structure and achieving better system understanding. A tool was implemented to assess this method. It inputs data extracted from code and derives association rules. Rules are then processed to abstract programs into groups containing interrelated entities. Entities are grouped together if their attributes participate in common rules. The abstraction is performed at the function level, in contrast to other approaches, that work at the program level. The method was evaluated using real, working programs. Programs are fed into a code analyser which produces the input needed for the mining tool. Results show that the method facilitates program comprehension by only using source code where domain knowledge and reliable documentation are not available or reliable.

Software as a service: a negotiation perspective

Software as a service (SAAS) is a long-term research project aimed at developing technologies and methods for the rapid production and evolution of software systems by providing software as a service rather than as a product. Recently, there has been a growing interest in bringing intelligent solutions to Internet based computing. Automated negotiation has been at the center of such interest. This paper is concerned with the implications of negotiating software services under the software as a service model.