Model-Driven Evolution of Software Architectures - Software and ...
Model-Driven Evolution of Software Architectures - Software and ...
Model-Driven Evolution of Software Architectures - Software and ...
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9.6. FutureWork<strong>and</strong>Recommendations 201<br />
questionwehavetodecidewhetheras<strong>of</strong>twaresystem’s‘embeddedness’is<br />
relevantfromtheperspective<strong>of</strong>thes<strong>of</strong>twareevolutiontasksweidentified.<br />
Ourworkappliestoaspecialtype<strong>of</strong>s<strong>of</strong>twareinterms<strong>of</strong>thecasestudiesweconducted;allwereinthedomain<strong>of</strong>embeddeds<strong>of</strong>tware.Acommonperceptionisthatdevelopingembeddeds<strong>of</strong>twareisdifferentfromdevelopingotherkinds<strong>of</strong>s<strong>of</strong>twarebecause<strong>of</strong>somespecificcharacteristics:embeddeds<strong>of</strong>twarehasadedicatedfunction,<strong>and</strong>isembeddedin,<strong>and</strong>reactive<strong>and</strong>logicallyconnectedtoaphysicalsystemcomposed<strong>of</strong>hardware<br />
(e.g.,mechanical,electronic,oropticalcomponents)<strong>and</strong>s<strong>of</strong>tware. These<br />
characteristicsmakethatembeddeds<strong>of</strong>twarehassomespecificproperties<br />
thatmakedevelopingembeddeds<strong>of</strong>twaredifferentfromatechnicalpoint<br />
<strong>of</strong>view. Asanexample,inmanycasesreal-timeconstraintsplayanimportantrole,aswellassize<strong>of</strong>memoryfootprints.Furthermore,embedded<br />
s<strong>of</strong>tware<strong>of</strong>tenneedstocomplytosafetyconstraints(inthecaseitcontrols<br />
aphysicalsystemthatmightcausephysicaldamage).<br />
So,indeedembeddeds<strong>of</strong>twarehasmanyspecificcharacteristics. However,mostimportantfors<strong>of</strong>twareevolution,thetopic<strong>of</strong>ourresearch,isthe<br />
factthatthistype<strong>of</strong>s<strong>of</strong>twareisembeddedinaphysicalsystem.Although<br />
wecannotconcludefromthisthats<strong>of</strong>twareevolutionisdifferentforembeddedsystems,itdoesmakeevolutionunavoidable.Infact,thetwos<strong>of</strong>twareevolutionlawsdiscussedinSection2.1onlyapplytoaspecialclass<strong>of</strong>systems.<br />
Lehman[1980]definesthisclass<strong>of</strong>,so-called,E-typesystems,as<br />
theclass<strong>of</strong>systems<strong>of</strong>whichthespecificationincludesamodel<strong>of</strong>the‘real’<br />
world.Theembeddedsystemssuchasthosestudiedinourcasestudiesare<br />
prototypicalexamples<strong>of</strong>E-typesystems.Therefore,weconjecturethatour<br />
resultsarevalidforE-typesystemsingeneral,<strong>and</strong>notjustforembedded<br />
systems.<br />
9.6 FutureWork<strong>and</strong>Recommendations<br />
Inthisthesisweinvestigatedhowtosupportfourdifferents<strong>of</strong>twareevolutiontasks.<br />
Tothisend,wedefinedsolutionsthataremodel-driven<strong>and</strong><br />
takeintoaccounttheuse<strong>of</strong>productlines.Toenableindustrytointegrate<br />
oursolutionsintheirdevelopmentprocesses,weminimisedtheirorganisationalimpactbyreusingproventechnologies<strong>and</strong>st<strong>and</strong>ardsasmuchaspossible<strong>and</strong>limitingtherequiredadditionaleffort.Inmostcasesweinterpretedthes<strong>of</strong>twareevolutiontasksasmodeltransformationproblems<strong>and</strong>providedsuitabletransformationrules,whichcanbeexecutedautomatically.<br />
Inthechapters<strong>of</strong>thisthesisweraisedmanyissuestobeinvestigated<br />
furtherthatinclude,supportings<strong>of</strong>twareevolutiontasksinothertechnologicalspaces,development<strong>of</strong>hybridapproaches,<strong>and</strong>management<strong>and</strong>
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