Shah Nazir

A Novel Fuzzy Logic Based Software Component Selection Modeling

Software component selection is the most important part of component based software development. A large amount of time is invested in searching and selecting the most appropriate component from component repository. Different methods are used to select components quickly and efficiently. In the proposed method we have used part of off the shelf option and fuzzy logic methodology for components selection. The proposed methodology incorporates several important factors such as efficiency, reusability, portability, functionality, security, testability and maintenance. The methodology is illustrated and evaluated using hypothetical case study.

Software Component Selection Based on Quality Criteria Using the Analytic Network Process

Component based software development (CBSD) endeavors to deliver cost-effective and quality software systems through the selection and integration of commercially available software components. CBSD emphasizes the design and development of software systems using preexisting components. Software component reusability is an indispensable part of component based software development life cycle (CBSDLC), which consumes a significant amount of organization’s resources, that is, time and effort. It is convenient in component based software system (CBSS) to select the most suitable and appropriate software components that provide all the required functionalities. Selecting the most appropriate components is crucial for the success of the entire system. However, decisions regarding software component reusability are often made in an ad hoc manner, which ultimately results in schedule delay and lowers the entire quality system. In this paper, we have discussed the analytic network process (ANP) method for software component selection. The methodology is explained and assessed using a real life case study.

Evaluating Security of Software Components Using Analytic Network Process

Increasing use of Component Based Software Engineering (CBSE) has raised the issues related with the security of software components. Several methodologies are being used to evaluate security of software components and that of the base system with which it is integrated. Security characteristics of a component must be specified effectively and unambiguously. To make possible software development progression, it will be effective to have a method which evaluates the security of software components. The study presented here attempts to propose analytic network process (ANP) for component security evaluation. The method is applied using ISO/IEC 27002 (ISO 27002) standard.

Estimation of software features based birthmark

Software birthmark is an important property of software that is successfully used to detect piracy and theft of software. Estimation of a birthmark provides critical information about the extent of piracy performed in a software. This information can then be used to decide over many important issues related with software theft and piracy, including legal and ethical considerations. Research shows that a software birthmark based on multiple software features provides a powerful and unique identity to software, hence more useful in theft detection. The estimation of this features based birthmark may provide even close detection and estimation of software piracy. This estimation process provides an objective measure to detect software theft and piracy efficiently and accurately. The research uses the concept of fuzzy logic for estimation, which has already proved its success in estimation of other birthmarks. The technique is tested for features based birthmark through a case study and the results support validity of the process. The details of the case study elaborate upon techniques and details of implementing software birthmark estimation process and show that the method is effective in terms of efficiency and accuracy for the estimation of features based software birthmark.

A Novel Rules Based Approach for Estimating Software Birthmark

Software birthmark is a unique quality of software to detect software theft. Comparing birthmarks of software can tell us whether a program or software is a copy of another. Software theft and piracy are rapidly increasing problems of copying, stealing, and misusing the software without proper permission, as mentioned in the desired license agreement. The estimation of birthmark can play a key role in understanding the effectiveness of a birthmark. In this paper, a new technique is presented to evaluate and estimate software birthmark based on the two most sought-after properties of birthmarks, that is, credibility and resilience. For this purpose, the concept of soft computing such as probabilistic and fuzzy computing has been taken into account and fuzzy logic is used to estimate properties of birthmark. The proposed fuzzy rule based technique is validated through a case study and the results show that the technique is successful in assessing the specified properties of the birthmark, its resilience and credibility. This, in turn, shows how much effort will be required to detect the originality of the software based on its birthmark.

Determination of Awareness of Piracy Level on Educational Institutions- A Questionnaire Based Study

Software piracy is globally a major issue of using software without proper permission as enforced by the software license and agreement. Currently, software industries and organizations face a huge loss of money due to software piracy. Most of the educational institutions/organizations have also been affected from software piracy. To facilitate educational institutions regarding software piracy, it would be ideal to have a detailed study of the awareness of piracy level in education institutions for future development and to help academia to get rid of problems occur from pirated software. The present research aims to study and determine the awareness of piracy level in educational institutions. This study will eventually help academia in determination of level of piracy and awareness of pirated software.

A clone management framework to improve code quality of FOSS projects

The emergence of Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) development model as a widely adopted paradigm in the software development industry in the recent few years has developed the interest of researchers towards the code quality of FOSS projects. Code clones are introduced in the software system by the adoption of common code reuse practices by FOSS developers. This has led the clone research community to observe the effects of code clones on the code quality of FOSS projects. Although code clones are not always harmful but they might become critical to large scale and evolving software systems such as FOSS projects. Research in this paper reveals the importance and need for improving code quality of FOSS projects by implementing an effective clone management system integrated in the FOSS development environment. This paper proposes a clone management framework that ensures effective clone evolution tracking and visualization in FOSS projects. This framework will appear as a baseline to initiate the efforts towards improving code quality by the implementation of a versatile clone management system for FOSS development.