The software development continues to become more competitive and demanding, placing pressure on developers. Changes in the international political climate have resulted in shrinking military budgets, putting developers of defence software under further pressure. At present, systematic reuse is probably the most realistic way of addressing this pressure by improving software development productivity and quality. Software product line (SPL) engineering provides a comprehensive approach to systematic software reuse and is becoming widely accepted. The focus of this interpretive case study was ground station software development in a small multidisciplinary project-centric company which produces avionics systems for military aircraft. The purpose of the study was to investigate the potential implementation of systematic software reuse in the company. The study consisted of three phases, a literature study, a contextualisation and a set of field interviews, and used elements of the Carnegie-Mellon Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Product Line Practice Framework to examine the suitability of SPL engineering for the company. The findings of the study highlight the potential challenges that SPL engineering poses for the company, and emphasise how the company's project-centric structure could impede its implementation of systematic software reuse. / Computing / M.Sc. (Information Systems)

Submitted by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2017-06-01T17:00:50Z No. of bitstreams: 1 MORAES_Rodrigo_2016.pdf: 42751751 bytes, checksum: 25891a495567a6bce1d41328abf03d12 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2017-06-01T17:00:58Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 MORAES_Rodrigo_2016.pdf: 42751751 bytes, checksum: 25891a495567a6bce1d41328abf03d12 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2017-06-01T17:01:04Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 MORAES_Rodrigo_2016.pdf: 42751751 bytes, checksum: 25891a495567a6bce1d41328abf03d12 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-01T17:01:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MORAES_Rodrigo_2016.pdf: 42751751 bytes, checksum: 25891a495567a6bce1d41328abf03d12 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-11-25 / Não recebi financiamento / The APIs are becoming increasingly more popular and they play a important role in software development. However, many APIs are large and complex that makes them hard to learn. Among avaliable resources to learn to use an API, there are the code samples. A code sample can be used to demonstrate to a programmer how to use API’s components together to attain a specific goal. But, code sample are static and they haven’t information about how to adapt the code snippet shown as example to programmer’s context. Tools have been proposed to assist the programmers in finding and adapting code snippets that may be useful for a programming task. A specific type of these tools are the code template tools. Code templates are code snippets manually registered containing integration directives. The integration directives instruct the code template tool on how to adapt a code snippet to programmer’s context. In this work, code snippet tools are investigated and it is proposed a code template tool called IPS. It presents some novelties in relation to other code template tools. In the IPS, a code template can be associated to a Java class and the IPS has a code template recommender that is automatically updated as the source code is edited by the programmer. Also it is proposed the role parameters, a new concept for the parameters of code templates that extends the concept of the parameters associated to a type which is present in current code template tools. The role parameters has the objective of accepting arguments that would at first be incompatible with a specific type, but that obey a expected pattern. / As APIs têm se tornado cada vez mais populares e elas têm um papel fundamental no desenvolvimento de software. No entanto, muitas APIs são grandes e complexas o que torna a aprendizagem delas difícil. Entre os recursos disponíveis para se aprender a utilizar uma API, há os exemplos de código. Um exemplo de código pode demonstrar a um programador como componentes de uma API podem ser utilizados juntos para atingir um determinado objetivo. Porém, exemplos de código são estáticos e não contêm informações de como adaptar o trecho de código apresentado como exemplo para o contexto do programador. Ferramentas têm sido propostas para auxiliar os programadores a encontrarem e adaptarem trechos de códigos que possam ser úteis para uma tarefa de programação. Um tipo específico dessas ferramentas são as ferramentas de templates de código. Templates de código são trechos de códigos cadastrados manualmente contendo diretivas de integração. As diretivas de integração instruem a ferramenta a como adaptar um trecho de código para o contexto do programador. Neste trabalho, ferramentas de trechos de código são investigadas e é proposta uma ferramenta de template de código denominada IPS. Ela apresenta novidades em relação às outras ferramentas de templates de código. No IPS, um template de código pode ser associado a uma classe Java e o IPS possui um recomendador de templates de código que é automaticamente atualizado conforme o código fonte é editado pelo programador. Também é proposto os parâmetros do tipo role, um novo conceito que estende o conceito dos parâmetros associados a um tipo que está presente nas ferramentas de templates de código atuais. Os parâmetros do tipo role têm como objetivo aceitar argumentos que seriam a princípio incompatíveis com um determinado tipo, porém que sigam um determinado padrão esperado.

This project is to develop an on-line library to help software engineers who utilize design patterns for developing e-commerce applications it translates generic design patterns to concrete design patterns. The graphical user interface was developed to allow the user to develop their own design patterns by modifying or changing stored design patterns.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:47:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AndreMD.pdf: 5208404 bytes, checksum: 35b3883a3ba487ddd5f5627c46d41e2c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-01-08 / ?Over the years the use of application frameworks designed for the View and Controller layers of MVC architectural pattern adapted to web applications has become very popular. These frameworks are classified into Actions Oriented and Components Oriented , according to the solution strategy adopted by the tools. The choice of such strategy leads the system architecture design to acquire non-functional characteristics caused by the way the framework influences the developer to implement the system. The components reusability is one of those characteristics and plays a very important role for development activities such as system evolution and maintenance. The work of this dissertation consists to analyze of how the reusability could be influenced by the Web frameworks usage. To accomplish this, small academic management applications were developed using the latest versions of Apache Struts and JavaServer Faces frameworks, the main representatives of Java plataform Web frameworks of. For this assessment was used a software quality model that associates internal attributes, which can be measured objectively, to the characteristics in question. These attributes and metrics defined for the model were based on some work related discussed in the document / ?O uso de frameworks para as camadas do Controlador e Vis?o do padr?o arquitetural MVC adaptado para aplica??es Web se tornou bastante popular ao longo dos anos. Eles s?o classificados em Orientados a A??es ou Orientados a Componentes , de acordo com a estrat?gia de solu??o adotada pelas ferramentas. A escolha por uma dessas estrat?gias faz com que o design da arquitetura do sistema adquira caracter?sticas n?o-funcionais ocasionadas pela forma com que o framework leva o desenvolvedor a implementar o sistema. A reusabilidade dos componentes ? uma dessas caracter?sticas. Ela possui um papel muito importante para atividades como evolu??o e manuten??o do sistema. O trabalho desta disserta??o consiste em analisar o quanto a reusabilidade pode ser impactada de acordo com a utiliza??o de um tipo de framework Web. Com esse intuito, foram realizados estudos de caso atrav?s da implementa??o de pequenas aplica??es de controle acad?mico se utilizando das mais recentes vers?es dos frameworks Apache Struts e JavaServer Faces, os principais representantes de frameworks Web da plataforma Java. Para essa avalia??o, foi utilizado um modelo de qualidade de software respons?vel por associar atributos internos, que podem ser medidos objetivamente, ? caracter?stica em quest?o. Esses atributos e m?tricas definidos para o modelo foram baseados em alguns trabalhos relacionados discutidos no documento

en català:Un camp de recerca important dins del paradigma del Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) és la importància en la gestió eficaç de la informació d'esdeveniments generada durant l'activitat de l'aprenentatge col·laboratiu virtual, per a proporcionar coneixement sobre el comportament dels membres del grup. Aquesta visió és especialment pertinent en l'escenari educatiu actual que passa d'un paradigma tradicional - centrat en la figura d'un instructor magistral - a un paradigma emergent que considera els estudiants com actors centrals en el seu procés d'aprenentatge. En aquest nou escenari, els estudiants aprenen, amb l'ajuda de professors, la tecnologia i els altres estudiants, el que potencialment necessitaran per a desenvolupar les seves activitats acadèmiques o professionals futures.Els principals aspectes a tenir en compte en aquest context són, primer de tot, com dissenyar una plataforma sota el paradigma del CSCL, que es pugui utilitzar en situacions reals d'aprenentatge col·laboratiu complexe i a llarg termini, basades en el model d'aprenentatge de resolució de problemes. I que permet al professor una anàlisi del grup més eficaç així com donar el suport adequat als estudiants quan sigui necessari. En segon lloc, com extreure coneixement pertinent de la col·laboració per donar consciència i retorn als estudiants a nivell individual i de rendiment del grup, així com per a propòsits d'avaluació. L'assoliment d'aquests objectius impliquen el disseny d'un model conceptual d'interacció durant l'aprenentatge col·laboratiu que estructuri i classifiqui la informació generada en una aplicació col·laborativa en diferents nivells de descripció. A partir d'aquesta aproximació conceptual, els models computacionals hi donen resposta per a proporcionar una extracció eficaç del coneixement produït per l'individu i per l'activitat del grup, així com la possibilitat d'explotar aquest coneixement com una eina metacognitiva pel suport en temps real i regulat del procés d'aprenentatge col·laboratiu.A més a més, les necessitats dels entorns CSCL han evolucionat en gran mesura durant els darrers anys d'acord amb uns requisits pedagògics i tecnològics cada cop més exigents. Els entorns d'aprenentatge col·laboratius virtuals ara ja no depenen de grups d'estudiants homogenis, continguts i recursos d'aprenentatge estàtics, ni pedagogies úniques, sinó que exigeixen una forta personalització i un alt grau de flexibilitat. En aquest nou escenari, les organitzacions educatives actuals necessiten estendre's i moure's cap a paradigmes d'ensenyament altament personalitzats, amb immediatesa i constantment, on cada paradigma incorpora el seu propi model pedagògic, el seu propi objectiu d'aprenentatge i incorpora els seus propis recursos educatius específics. Les demandes de les organitzacions actuals també inclouen la integració efectiva, en termes de cost i temps, de sistemes d'aprenentatge llegats i externs, que pertanyen a altres institucions, departaments i cursos. Aquests sistemes llegats es troben implementats en llenguatges diferents, suportats per plataformes heterogènies i distribuïdes arreu, per anomenar alguns dels problemes més habituals. Tots aquests problemes representen certament un gran repte per la comunitat de recerca actual i futura. Per tant, els propers esforços han d'anar encarats a ajudar a desenvolupadors, recercaires, tecnòlegs i pedagogs a superar aquests exigents requeriments que es troben actualment en el domini del CSCL, així com proporcionar a les organitzacions educatives solucions ràpides i flexibles per a potenciar i millorar el rendiment i resultats de l'aprenentatge col·laboratiu. Aquesta tesi proposa un primer pas per aconseguir aquests objectius. / An important research topic in Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) is to explore the importance of efficient management of event information generated from group activity in collaborative learning practices for its further use in extracting and providing knowledge on interaction behavior. The essential issue here is first how to design a CSCL platform that can be used for real, long-term, complex collaborative problem solving situations and which enables the instructor to both analyze group interaction effectively and provide an adequate support when needed. Secondly, how to extract relevant knowledge from collaboration in order to provide learners with efficient awareness and feedback as regards individual and group performance and assessment. The achievement of these tasks involve the design of a conceptual framework of collaborative learning interaction that structures and classifies the information generated in a collaborative application at several levels of description. Computational models are then to realize this conceptual approach for an efficient management of the knowledge produced by the individual and group activity as well as the possibility of exploiting this knowledge further as a metacognitive tool for real-time coaching and regulating the collaborative learning process.In addition, CSCL needs have been evolving over the last years accordingly with more and more demanding pedagogical and technological requirements. On-line collaborative learning environments no longer depend on homogeneous groups, static content and resources, and single pedagogies, but high customization and flexibility are a must in this context. As a result, current educational organizations' needs involve extending and moving to highly customized learning and teaching forms in timely fashion, each incorporating its own pedagogical approach, each targeting a specific learning goal, and each incorporating its specific resources. These entire issues certainly represent a great challenge for current and future research in this field. Therefore, further efforts need to be made that help developers, technologists and pedagogists overcome the demanding requirements currently found in the CSCL domain as well as provide modern educational organizations with fast, flexible and effective solutions for the enhancement and improvement of the collaborative learning performance and outcomes. This thesis proposes a first step toward these goals.Índex foliat:The main contribution in this thesis is the exploration of the importance of an efficient management of information generated from group activity in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) practices for its further use in extracting and providing knowledge on interaction behavior. To this end, the first step is to investigate a conceptual model for data analysis and management so as to identify the many kinds of indicators that describe collaboration and learning and classify them into high-level potential categories of effective collaboration. Indeed, there are more evident key discourse elements and aspects than those shown by the literature, which play an important role both for promoting student participation and enhancing group and individual performance, such as, the impact and effectiveness of students' contributions, among others, that are explored in this work. By making these elements explicit, the discussion model proposed accomplishes high students' participation rates and contribution quality in a more natural and effective way. This approach goes beyond a mere interaction analysis of asynchronous discussion in the sense that it builds a multi-functional model that fosters knowledge sharing and construction, develops a strong sense of community among students, provides tutors with a powerful tool for students' monitoring, discussion regulation, while it allows for peer facilitation through self, peer and group awareness and assessment.The results of the research described so far motivates the development of a computational system as the translation from the conceptual model into a computer system that implements the management of the information and knowledge acquired from the group activity, so as to be efficiently fed back to the collaboration. The achievement of a generic, robust, flexible, interoperable, reusable computational model that meets the fundamental functional needs shared by any collaborative learning experience is largely investigated in this thesis. The systematic reuse of this computational model permits a fast adaptation to new learning and teaching requirements, such as learning by discussion, by relying on the most advanced software engineering processes and methodologies from the field of software reuse, and thus important benefits are expected in terms of productivity, quality, and cost.Therefore, another important contribution is to explore and extend suitable software reuse techniques, such as Generic Programming, so as to allow the computational model to be successfully particularized in as many as situations as possible without losing efficiency in the process. In particular, based on domain analysis techniques, a high-level computational description and formalization of the CSCL domain are identified and modeled. Then, different specific-platform developments that realize the conceptual description are provided. It is also explored a certain level of automation by means of advanced techniques based on Service-Oriented Architectures and Web-services while passing from the conceptual specification to the desired realization, which greatly facilitates the development of CSCL applications using this computational model.Based on the outcomes of these investigations, this thesis contributes with computational collaborative learning systems, which are capable of managing both qualitative and quantitative information and transforming it into useful knowledge for all the implicated parties in an efficient and clear way. This is achieved by both the specific assessment of each contribution by the tutor who supervises the discussion and by rich statistical information about student's participation. This statistical data is automatically provided by the system; for instance, statistical data sheds light on the students' engagement in the discussion forum or how much interest drew the student's intervention in the form of participation impact, level of passivity, proactivity, reactivity, and so on. The aim is to provide both a deeper understanding of the actual discussion process and a more objective assessment of individual and group activity.This information is then processed and analyzed by means of a multivariate statistical model in order to extract useful knowledge about the collaboration. The knowledge acquired is communicated back to the members of the learning group and their tutor in appropriate formats, thus providing valuable awareness and feedback of group interaction and performance as well as may help identify and assess the real skills and intentions of participants. The most important benefit expected from the conceptual model for interaction data analysis and management is a great improvement and enhancement of the learning and teaching collaborative experiences.Finally, the possibilities of using distributed and Grid technology to support real CSCL environments are also extensively explored in this thesis. The results of this investigation lead to conclude that the features provided by these technologies form an ideal context for supporting and meeting demanding requirements of collaborative learning applications. This approach is taken one step further for enhancing the possibilities of the computational model in the CSCL domain and it is successfully adopted on an empirical and application basis. From the results achieved, it is proved the feasibility of distributed technologies to considerably enhance and improve the collaborative learning experience. In particular, the use of Grid computing is successfully applied for the specific purpose of increasing the efficiency of processing a large amount of information from group activity log files.

One of the tools used during re-engineering of an environment is the process model as modelling tool. The identification of process models within an institution is a difficult and tedious task. A problem is that often process model structures is identified for one specific project and not stored for future reuse. The ideal for institutions is to reuse process model structures within the institution. This study focused on the generic structures within the higher education application domain where the hypothesis for this study was that a generic educational process model structure for higher education institutions can be established; a process management flow procedure can be used to manage the flow within an educational process model; and that aneducational process model can be stored and reused in re-engineering efforts. The study was divided into three research questions, where the first focused on the identification of generic process model structures, the second on the usability of the process model structures within a re-engineering effort, and the last on the preservation of a process model structure. For the first research question, the identification of process model structures, three institutions were used for data collection. It was necessary to develop a requirements elicitation procedure for data collection. The structure derived was confirmed at a fourth institution. For the second research question, which focuses on the usability of process model structures, an ordinal measurement was defined to measure the usefulness of the process model structures in a reengineering effort. A re-engineering procedure was developed for re-engineering the application domain, called the process management flow procedure, and used for a re-engineering effort at one institution. Lastly, for the third research question the preservation of the process model structures, the abstraction of the process model structure was investigated as well as the feasibility of implementing the process model structures physically using existing repository software. The conclusion after the investigation of the three research questions was that the hypothesis was confirmed that there is indeed a set of process model structures within the higher education institution that are generic, preservable and reusable in a re-engineering effort. / Computing / Ph. D. (Computer Science)

One of the tools used during re-engineering of an environment is the process model as modelling tool. The identification of process models within an institution is a difficult and tedious task. A problem is that often process model structures is identified for one specific project and not stored for future reuse. The ideal for institutions is to reuse process model structures within the institution. This study focused on the generic structures within the higher education application domain where the hypothesis for this study was that a generic educational process model structure for higher education institutions can be established; a process management flow procedure can be used to manage the flow within an educational process model; and that aneducational process model can be stored and reused in re-engineering efforts. The study was divided into three research questions, where the first focused on the identification of generic process model structures, the second on the usability of the process model structures within a re-engineering effort, and the last on the preservation of a process model structure. For the first research question, the identification of process model structures, three institutions were used for data collection. It was necessary to develop a requirements elicitation procedure for data collection. The structure derived was confirmed at a fourth institution. For the second research question, which focuses on the usability of process model structures, an ordinal measurement was defined to measure the usefulness of the process model structures in a reengineering effort. A re-engineering procedure was developed for re-engineering the application domain, called the process management flow procedure, and used for a re-engineering effort at one institution. Lastly, for the third research question the preservation of the process model structures, the abstraction of the process model structure was investigated as well as the feasibility of implementing the process model structures physically using existing repository software. The conclusion after the investigation of the three research questions was that the hypothesis was confirmed that there is indeed a set of process model structures within the higher education institution that are generic, preservable and reusable in a re-engineering effort. / Computing / Ph. D. (Computer Science)