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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8 Chapter1. Introduction<br />
definedonahigherlevel<strong>of</strong>abstractionthansingle-productarchitectures.<br />
Furthermore,thenumber<strong>of</strong>stakeholdersforaproductlinealsoishigher.<br />
Thiscomplicates,forinstance,evaluations.<br />
Thisleadstooursecondsubquestion:<br />
RQ2Whatistheimpact<strong>of</strong>theuse<strong>of</strong>s<strong>of</strong>twareproductlines<strong>and</strong>platforms<br />
onthesupportfors<strong>of</strong>twareevolutiontasks?<br />
1.2.3 <strong>Model</strong>-<strong>Driven</strong>Engineering<br />
S<strong>of</strong>twarearchitectureevolutioniscostly<strong>and</strong>risky. Therefore,wewillinvestigatetheuse<strong>of</strong>MDEtechnologyforthisproblem.Automationisone<strong>of</strong><br />
thekeycharacteristics<strong>of</strong>MDE.Whenappliedtothearchitectureevolution<br />
thismayyieldcheaper<strong>and</strong>morereliableresults.<br />
Ouruse<strong>of</strong>MDEisalsomotivatedbyRQ1<strong>and</strong>RQ2. Thedevelopment<br />
<strong>of</strong> MDEtechnologieshasbeendrivenbyindustry. Thiscanbeseen,for<br />
instance,fromthewide-spreaduse<strong>of</strong>UMLfors<strong>of</strong>twaredesign. Assuch,<br />
supportfors<strong>of</strong>twareevolutiontasksbasedonsimilartechnologymightby<br />
itselfalreadyimproveintegration<strong>of</strong>suchsupportinindustrialenvironments.<br />
Finally,astronglinkexistsbetweenMDE<strong>and</strong>s<strong>of</strong>twareproductlines.<br />
WithMDEthegeneratedcodetypicallyexecutesontop<strong>of</strong>as<strong>of</strong>twareplatform.Atthesametimes<strong>of</strong>twareplatformsarethefoundationforeventhe<br />
mostbasicproductlines[Bosch,2002]. Assuch,MDEapproachescanbe<br />
usedfortheautomaticderivation<strong>of</strong>product-linemembers[Deelstraetal.,<br />
2003].<br />
Forindustrialapplicability,onespecifictype<strong>of</strong>MDEisparticularrelevant.<br />
WefocusonMDEtechnologiesbasedonaset<strong>of</strong>st<strong>and</strong>ardsdefined<br />
bytheObjectManagementGroup 1 (OMG)underthename<strong>Model</strong><strong>Driven</strong><br />
Architecture 2 (MDA). ThereasonforthisisthatUMLisanessentialpart<br />
<strong>of</strong>theMDAframework;<strong>and</strong>UMListhe(defacto)st<strong>and</strong>ardformodelling<br />
s<strong>of</strong>tware[Kobryn,1999]thatismostwidelyappliedinindustry. Webelievethatthepracticalrelevance<strong>of</strong>ourworkisincreasedbyrestricting<br />
ourselvestothisframework(seealsoRQ1).<br />
<strong>Model</strong>-drivensupportatthearchitecturallevelforours<strong>of</strong>twareevolutiontasksallowsfor(partial)automation,resultinginimprovedreliability,efficiency(<strong>of</strong>thedevelopmentprocess),<strong>and</strong>quality(<strong>of</strong>developeds<strong>of</strong>tware)[Atkinson<strong>and</strong>Küne,2003;Selic,2003].<br />
Thisleadstoourthird<strong>and</strong>finalsubquestion:<br />
RQ3Towhatextentcanthesupportfors<strong>of</strong>twareevolutiontasksbeautomatedbytheuse<strong>of</strong>model-drivenengineering?<br />
1 http://www.omg.org(June2007)<br />
2 http://www.omg.org/mda(June2007)
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