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Background: In the modeling of object oriented software systems, the UML object diagrams are recognized very useful to complement class diagrams. However, up to now, there exists only one experiment [Torchiano 2004] that investigates this concern. Aim: To confirm or contradict the findings of the original experiment, we have conducted a replication and the achieved results have been presented in this...
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Background: Teaching programming to novices is a difficult task due to the complex nature of the subject, as negative stereotypes are associated with programming and because introductory programming courses often fail to encourage student understanding. Aim: This study investigates the effectiveness of using robots as tools to aid the process of teaching programming and to determine whether such technology...
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Background: One of the anticipated benefits of systematic literature reviews (SLRs) is that they can be conducted in an auditable way to produce repeatable results. Aim: This study aims to identify under what conditions SLRs are likely to be stable, with respect to the primary studies selected, when used in software engineering. The conditions we investigate in this report are when novice researchers...
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Background: There has been much discussion amongst automated software defect prediction researchers regarding use of the precision and false positive rate classifier performance metrics. Aim: To demonstrate and explain why failing to report precision when using data with highly imbalanced class distributions may provide an overly optimistic view of classifier performance. Method: Well documented examples...
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Background: Several meta-analysis methods can be used to quantitatively combine the results of a group of experiments, including the weighted mean difference, statistical vote counting, the parametric response ratio and the non-parametric response ratio. The software engineering community has focused on the weighted mean difference method. However, other meta-analysis methods have distinct strengths,...
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Background: The number of studies that quantitatively reveal the effect of using Agile models on development performance is scarce. Aim: In this paper, we explain the analysis of a plan-driven, Incremental Process within Siemens EC, carried out to understand its performance as a base for the comparison with the Agile Process. Method: We introduce a method to systematically analyze a software development...
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Background: Software product line engineering provides an effective mechanism to implement variable software. However, the usage of preprocessors, which is typical in industry, is heavily criticized, because it often leads to obfuscated code. Using background colors to support comprehensibility has shown effective, however, scalability to large software product lines (SPLs) is questionable. Aim: Our...
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Background: Case studies and experiments are research methods frequently applied in empirical software engineering. Experiments are well-understood and their value as an empirical method is recognized. On the other hand, there seem to be different opinions on what constitutes a case study, and about the value of case studies as a thorough research method. Aim: We aim at exploring the attitudes of...
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A collaborative system is a distributed software which allows several users to work together and carry out collaboration, communication and coordination tasks. To perform these tasks, the users have to be aware of other user's actions, usually by means of a set of awareness techniques. When we are defining a collaborative system, the awareness techniques can be considered as non-functional requirements...
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Background/Aim — Given the relevance and importance that the understanding of motivation has gained in the field of software engineering, this work was carried out in order to update the results of a literature review carried out in 2006 on motivation in software engineering. Method — Based on guidelines for this specific type of study, we replicated the original study protocol. Results — The combination...
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Objective — The objective of this paper is to present the current state of research in Software Process Improvement (SPI) models and techniques used by small and medium Web development companies. Method — A previously conducted systematic review (Sulayman and Mendes, 2009) has been updated and extended to identify the current state of research on the mentioned topic. Results — Eight studies applied...
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Background: Effective use of bug finding tools promise to speed up the process of source code verification and to move a portion of discovered defects from testing to coding phase. However, many problems related to their usage, especially the large number of false positives, could easily hinder the potential benefits of such tools. Aims: Assess the percentage and type of issues of a popular bug-finding...
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Background: Software agents are becoming increasingly common in the engineering of software systems. We explore the use of humans in creating benchmarks for the evaluation of software agents. In our case studies, we address the domain of instructable software agents (e-students) as proposed by the Bootstrapped Learning project [Oblinger, 2006]. Aim: Our aim is to define and refine requirements, problem...
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Background: Non functional requirements (NFRs) are greatly influenced by the architectural choices and designs made during architecture phase. Security is an important concern in today's world in most applications. Security, like other NFRs, is also related with software architecture. A lot of work is being reported to deal with security at architecture level. Aim: This paper synthesizes the work...
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Background — The influence of individual personalities on individual tasks and team work has been a concern in software engineering over the past 50 years. However, how to use personality analysis and what it can offer for the practice of software engineering is still subject to debate among researchers. Aim — The goal of this work is to identify the methods used, topics addressed, personality tests...
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Jonatas Ferreira Bastos,
Paulo Anselmo da Mota Silveira Neto,
Eduardo Santana de Almeida,
Silvio Romero de Lemos Meira
Context: The benefits of taking a product line approach in order to achieve significant reductions in cost and time to market and, at the same time, increasing the quality has encouraged product line adoption. Objective: In this context, this study focuses on some SPL adoption aspects and has the following goals: investigate state-of-the-art SPL adoption, synthesize available evidence, and identify...
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Background: The NASA Metrics Data Program data sets have been heavily used in software defect prediction experiments. Aim: To demonstrate and explain why these data sets require significant pre-processing in order to be suitable for defect prediction. Method: A meticulously documented data cleansing process involving all 13 of the original NASA data sets. Results: Post our novel data cleansing process;...
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Background: Systematic Literature Reviews (SLRs) have been gaining significant attention from Software Engineering (SE) researchers. Several researchers are also working on improving SLR methodology for SE. Objective: The study reported in this paper aims to validate the QGS-based search process for SLR, i.e. whether a more effective (sensitive) and/or productive (precise) search can be achieved by...
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Background: a systematic review identifies, evaluates and synthesizes the available literature on a given topic using scientific and repeatable methodologies. The significant workload required and the subjectivity bias could affect results. Aim: semi-automate the selection process to reduce the amount of manual work needed and the consequent subjectivity bias. Method: extend and enrich the selection...
