Hierarchy Aware Software Metrics In Component Composition Hierarchies

Software metrics like Lines of Code are commonly used in software engineering. Although software metrics are defined to give a concrete statement on a particular facet of a software entity, they are usually interpreted from the viewpoint of more abstract concepts like complexity. Software metrics were developed for a particular context (like an architectural model), but are often used in others than the one they were defined for. The usability of metrics in a particular context highly depends on whether they have properties like extensive structure. Extensive structure and more basic properties were originally introduced in the field of measurement theory that has been used as basis for software measurement in the past. In this thesis we address the software measurement related issues arising from considering software metrics in component based systems.

The book provides a clear understanding of what software reuse is, where the problems are, what benefits to expect, the activities, and its different forms. The reader is also given an overview of what sofware components are, different kinds of components and compositions, a taxonomy thereof, and examples of successful component reuse. An introduction to software engineering and software process models is also provided.

Object-Oriented Simulation with Hierarchical, Modular Models: Intelligent Agents and Endomorphic Systems describes an approach to object-oriented discrete event simulation and the concepts of hierarchical, modular model construction, The implementation of the concepts of multifaceted modeling methodology in the DEVS-Scheme modeling and simulation environment is discussed. The use of the DEVS-Scheme environment in modeling artificial intelligent agents is also considered, along with the concept of endomorphism to characterize the application of self-embedded models, including models of self. Comprised of 15 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the dimensions of knowledge representation in simulation environments, followed by a discussion on object-oriented programming as well as the concepts of modular, hierarchical models and the system entity structure. Subsequent chapters focus on digraph-models and experimental frames; DEVS formalism and DEVS-Scheme simulation environment; a model base for simple multi-computer architectures; and rule-based specification of atomic models. Model bases in endomorphic systems and intelligent agents are also examined. This monograph will be of interest to simulation theorists as well as practitioners and researchers in the fields of artificial intelligence, systems engineering, computer science and engineering, and operations research.

Component-based software development regards software construction in terms of conventional engineering disciplines where the assembly of systems from readily-available prefabricated parts is the norm. Because both component-based systems themselves and the stakeholders in component-based development projects are different from traditional software systems, component-based testing also needs to deviate from traditional software testing approaches. Gross first describes the specific challenges related to component-based testing like the lack of internal knowledge of a component or the usage of a component in diverse contexts. He argues that only built-in contract testing, a test organization for component-based applications founded on building test artifacts directly into components, can prevent catastrophic failures like the one that caused the now famous ARIANE 5 crash in 1996. Since building testing into components has implications for component development, built-in contract testing is integrated with and made to complement a model-driven development method. Here UML models are used to derive the testing architecture for an application, the testing interfaces and the component testers. The method also provides a process and guidelines for modeling and developing these artifacts. This book is the first comprehensive treatment of the intricacies of testing component-based software systems. With its strong modeling background, it appeals to researchers and graduate students specializing in component-based software engineering. Professionals architecting and developing component-based systems will profit from the UML-based methodology and the implementation hints based on the XUnit and JUnit frameworks.