Software Evolution And Feedback

NH Madhavji

• 07 april 2006
• 9780470871805

Samenvatting:

Evolution of software has long been recognized as one of the most problematic and challenging areas in the field of software engineering, as evidenced by the high, often up to 60-80%, life-cycle costs attributed to this activity over the life of a software system.

Society is becoming increasingly dependant on software at all levels of human activity. At the same time, software needs to be kept up-to-date, that is, evolved, if it is to satisfy its purpose in a changing world. However, evolution of software has long been recognized as one of the most problematic, challenging and expensive areas in the field of software engineering. Software Evolution and Feedback is a comprehensive reference to concepts, phenomena, and techniques to assist the maintenance, management and understanding of very large and long-lived software systems. The book provides an up-to-date scientific overview of what software evolution is, shows why it is inevitable for real-world applications, how to technically and managerially deal with it, and demonstrates the role of feedback in software development and maintenance.

Read on to find out more about:

• the theoretical underpinnings and conceptual understanding of software evolution,
• how requirements change over time due to external factors,
• the characteristics of proprietary and open-source software evolution,
• the relationship between software architectures and software evolution,
• the evolution of object-oriented frameworks,
• feedback and system dynamics issues in the software process,
• the use of policies to guide software evolution,
• the role of metrics that characterise the risk of making changes … and much more.

Software Evolution and Feedback will provide practitioners and managers in the software industry, as well as academics, graduate students and researchers in the area of software engineering, with sound scientific insight into software evolution and feedback.

Evolution of software has long been recognized as one of the most problematic and challenging areas in the field of software engineering, as evidenced by the high, often up to 60-80%, life-cycle costs attributed to this activity over the life of a software system. Studies of software evolution are central to the understanding and practice of software development. Yet it has received relatively little attention in the field of software engineering. This book focuses on topics aimed at giving a scientific insight into the aspect of software evolution and feedback.

In summary, the book covers conceptual, phenomenological, empirical, technological and theoretical aspects of the field of software evolution - with contributions from the leading experts.

This book delivers an up-to-date scientific understanding of what software evolution is, to show why it is inevitable for real world applications, and it demonstrates the role of feedback in software development and maintenance. The book also addresses some of the phenomenological and technological underpinnings and includes rules and guidelines for increased software evolvability and, in general, sustainability of the evolution process.

Software Evolution and Feedback provides a long overdue, scientific focus on software evolution and the role of feedback in the software process, making this the indispensable guide for all software practitioners, researchers and managers in the software industry.