A Recommendation Framework Based on the Analytic Network Process and its Application in the Semantic Technology Domain

When users face a certain problem needing a product, service, or action to solve it, selecting the best alternative among them can be a dicult task due to the uncertainty of their quality. This is especially the case in the domains where users do not have an expertise, like for example in Software Engineering. Multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) methods are methods that help making better decisions when facing the complex problem of selecting the best solution among a group of alternatives that can be compared according to different conflicting criteria. In MCDM problems, alternatives represent concrete products, services or actions that will help in achieving a goal, while criteria represent the characteristics of these alternatives that are important for making a decision.

Software as a service: Undo

This paper proposes a highly automated mechanism to build an undo facility into a new or existing system easily. Our proposal is based on the observation that for a large set of operators it is not necessary to store in-memory object states or executed system commands to undo an action; the storage of input data is instead enough. This strategy simplifies greatly the design of the undo process and encapsulates most of the functionalities required in a framework structure similar to the many object-oriented programming frameworks.

Gestión de configuración y línea de productos para mejorar el proceso experimental en ingeniería del software

La Ingeniería del Software (IS) Empírica adopta el método científico a la IS para facilitar la generación de conocimiento. Una de las técnicas empleadas, es la realización de experimentos. Para que el conocimiento obtenido experimentalmente adquiera el nivel de madurez necesario para su posterior uso, es necesario que los experimentos sean replicados. La existencia de múltiples replicaciones de un mismo experimento conlleva la existencia de numerosas versiones de los distintos productos generados durante la realización de cada replicación. Actualmente existe un gran descontrol sobre estos productos, ya que la administración se realiza de manera informal. Esto causa problemas a la hora de planificar nuevas replicaciones, o intentar obtener información sobre las replicaciones ya realizadas. Para conocer con detalle la dimensión del problema a resolver, se estudia el estado actual de la gestión de materiales experimentales y su uso en replicaciones, así como de las herramientas de gestión de materiales experimentales. El estudio concluye que ninguno de los enfoques estudiados proporciona una solución al problema planteado. Este trabajo persigue como objetivo mejorar la administración de los materiales experimentales y replicaciones de experimentos en IS para dar soporte a la replicación de experimentos. Para satisfacer este objetivo, se propone la adopción en experimentación de los paradigmas de Gestión de Configuración del Software (GCS) y Línea de Producto Software (LPS). Para desarrollar la propuesta se decide utilizar el método de investigación acción (en inglés action research). Para adoptar la GCS a experimentación, se comienza realizando un estudio del proceso experimental como transformación de productos; a continuación, se realiza una adopción de conceptos fundamentada en los procesos del desarrollo software y de experimentación; finalmente, se desarrollan un conjunto de instrumentos, que se incorporan a un Plan de Gestión de Configuración de Experimentos (PGCE). Para adoptar la LPS a experimentación, se comienza realizando un estudio de los conceptos, actividades y fases que fundamentan la LPS; a continuación, se realiza una adopción de los conceptos; finalmente, se desarrollan o adoptan las técnicas, simbología y modelos para dar soporte a las fases de la Línea de Producto para Experimentación (LPE). La propuesta se valida mediante la evaluación de su: viabilidad, flexibilidad, usabilidad y satisfacción. La viabilidad y flexibilidad se evalúan mediante la instanciación del PGCE y de la LPE en experimentos concretos en IS. La usabilidad se evalúa mediante el uso de la propuesta para la generación de las instancias del PGCE y de LPE. La satisfacción evalúa la información sobre el experimento que contiene el PGCE y la LPE. Los resultados de la validación de la propuesta muestran mejores resultados en los aspectos de usabilidad y satisfacción a los experimentadores. ABSTRACT Empirical software engineering adapts the scientific method to software engineering (SE) in order to facilitate knowledge generation. Experimentation is one of the techniques used. For the knowledge generated experimentally to acquire the level of maturity necessary for later use, the experiments have to be replicated. As the same experiment is replicated more than once, there are numerous versions of all the products generated during a replication. These products are generally administered informally without control. This is troublesome when it comes to planning new replications or trying to gather information on replications conducted in the past. In order to grasp the size of the problem to be solved, this research examines the current state of the art of the management and use of experimental materials in replications, as well as the tools managing experimental materials. The study concludes that none of the analysed approaches provides a solution to the stated problem. The aim of this research is to improve the administration of SE experimental materials and experimental replications in support of experiment replication. To do this, we propose the adaptation of software configuration management (SCM) and software product line (SPL) paradigms to experimentation. The action research method was selected in order to develop this proposal. The first step in the adaptation of the SCM to experimentation was to analyse the experimental process from the viewpoint of the transformation of products. The concepts were then adapted based on software development and experimentation processes. Finally, a set of instruments were developed and added to an experiment configuration management plan (ECMP). The first step in the adaptation of the SPL to experimentation is to analyse the concepts, activities and phases underlying the SPL. The concepts are then adapted. Finally, techniques, symbols and models are developed or adapted in support of the experimentation product line (EPL) phases. The proposal is validated by evaluating its feasibility, flexibility, usability and satisfaction. Feasibility and flexibility are evaluated by instantiating the ECMP and the EPL in specific SE experiments. Usability is evaluated by using the proposal to generate the instances of the ECMP and EPL. The results of the validation of the proposal show that the proposal performs better with respect to usability issues and experimenter satisfaction.

Conceptualización e Infraestructura para la Investigación Experimental en Ingeniería del Software

Antecedentes: Esta investigación se enmarca principalmente en la replicación y secundariamente en la síntesis de experimentos en Ingeniería de Software (IS). Para poder replicar, es necesario disponer de todos los detalles del experimento original. Sin embargo, la descripción de los experimentos es habitualmente incompleta debido a la existencia de conocimiento tácito y a la existencia de otros problemas tales como: La carencia de un formato estándar de reporte, la inexistencia de herramientas que den soporte a la generación de reportes experimentales, etc. Esto provoca que no se pueda reproducir fielmente el experimento original. Esta problemática limita considerablemente la capacidad de los experimentadores para llevar a cabo replicaciones y por ende síntesis de experimentos. Objetivo: La investigación tiene como objetivo formalizar el proceso experimental en IS, de modo que facilite la comunicación de información entre experimentadores. Contexto: El presente trabajo de tesis doctoral ha sido desarrollado en el seno del Grupo de Investigación en Ingeniería del Software Empírica (GrISE) perteneciente a la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Informáticos (ETSIINF) de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), como parte del proyecto TIN2011-23216 denominado “Tecnologías para la Replicación y Síntesis de Experimentos en Ingeniería de Software”, el cual es financiado por el Gobierno de España. El grupo GrISE cumple a la perfección con los requisitos necesarios (familia de experimentos establecida, con al menos tres líneas experimentales y una amplia experiencia en replicaciones (16 replicaciones hasta 2011 en la línea de técnicas de pruebas de software)) y ofrece las condiciones para que la investigación se lleve a cabo de la mejor manera, como por ejemplo, el acceso total a su información. Método de Investigación: Para cumplir este objetivo se opta por Action Research (AR) como el método de investigación más adecuado a las características de la investigación, para obtener resultados a través de aproximaciones sucesivas que abordan los problemas concretos de comunicación entre experimentadores. Resultados: Se formalizó el modelo conceptual del ciclo experimental desde la perspectiva de los 3 roles principales que representan los experimentadores en el proceso experimental, siendo estos: Gestor de la Investigación (GI), Gestor del Experimento (GE) y Experimentador Senior (ES). Por otra parte, se formalizó el modelo del ciclo experimental, a través de: Un workflow del ciclo y un diagrama de procesos. Paralelamente a la formalización del proceso experimental en IS, se desarrolló ISRE (de las siglas en inglés Infrastructure for Sharing and Replicating Experiments), una prueba de concepto de entorno de soporte a la experimentación en IS. Finalmente, se plantearon guías para el desarrollo de entornos de soporte a la experimentación en IS, en base al estudio de las características principales y comunes de los modelos de las herramientas de soporte a la experimentación en distintas disciplinas experimentales. Conclusiones: La principal contribución de la investigación esta representada por la formalización del proceso experimental en IS. Los modelos que representan la formalización del ciclo experimental, así como la herramienta ISRE, construida a modo de evaluación de los modelos, fueron encontrados satisfactorios por los experimentadores del GrISE. Para consolidar la validez de la formalización, consideramos que este estudio debería ser replicado en otros grupos de investigación representativos en la comunidad de la IS experimental. Futuras Líneas de Investigación: El cumplimiento de los objetivos, de la mano con los hallazgos alcanzados, han dado paso a nuevas líneas de investigación, las cuales son las siguientes: (1) Considerar la construcción de un mecanismo para facilitar el proceso de hacer explícito el conocimiento tácito de los experimentadores por si mismos de forma colaborativa y basados en el debate y el consenso , (2) Continuar la investigación empírica en el mismo grupo de investigación hasta cubrir completamente el ciclo experimental (por ejemplo: experimentos nuevos, síntesis de resultados, etc.), (3) Replicar el proceso de investigación en otros grupos de investigación en ISE, y (4) Renovar la tecnología de la prueba de concepto, tal que responda a las restricciones y necesidades de un entorno real de investigación. ABSTRACT Background: This research addresses first and foremost the replication and also the synthesis of software engineering (SE) experiments. Replication is impossible without access to all the details of the original experiment. But the description of experiments is usually incomplete because knowledge is tacit, there is no standard reporting format or there are hardly any tools to support the generation of experimental reports, etc. This means that the original experiment cannot be reproduced exactly. These issues place considerable constraints on experimenters’ options for carrying out replications and ultimately synthesizing experiments. Aim: The aim of the research is to formalize the SE experimental process in order to facilitate information communication among experimenters. Context: This PhD research was developed within the empirical software engineering research group (GrISE) at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM)’s School of Computer Engineering (ETSIINF) as part of project TIN2011-23216 entitled “Technologies for Software Engineering Experiment Replication and Synthesis”, which was funded by the Spanish Government. The GrISE research group fulfils all the requirements (established family of experiments with at least three experimental lines and lengthy replication experience (16 replications prior to 2011 in the software testing techniques line)) and provides favourable conditions for the research to be conducted in the best possible way, like, for example, full access to information. Research Method: We opted for action research (AR) as the research method best suited to the characteristics of the investigation. Results were generated successive rounds of AR addressing specific communication problems among experimenters. Results: The conceptual model of the experimental cycle was formalized from the viewpoint of three key roles representing experimenters in the experimental process. They were: research manager, experiment manager and senior experimenter. The model of the experimental cycle was formalized by means of a workflow and a process diagram. In tandem with the formalization of the SE experimental process, infrastructure for sharing and replicating experiments (ISRE) was developed. ISRE is a proof of concept of a SE experimentation support environment. Finally, guidelines for developing SE experimentation support environments were designed based on the study of the key features that the models of experimentation support tools for different experimental disciplines had in common. Conclusions: The key contribution of this research is the formalization of the SE experimental process. GrISE experimenters were satisfied with both the models representing the formalization of the experimental cycle and the ISRE tool built in order to evaluate the models. In order to further validate the formalization, this study should be replicated at other research groups representative of the experimental SE community. Future Research Lines: The achievement of the aims and the resulting findings have led to new research lines, which are as follows: (1) assess the feasibility of building a mechanism to help experimenters collaboratively specify tacit knowledge based on debate and consensus, (2) continue empirical research at the same research group in order to cover the remainder of the experimental cycle (for example, new experiments, results synthesis, etc.), (3) replicate the research process at other ESE research groups, and (4) update the tools of the proof of concept in order to meet the constraints and needs of a real research environment.

An Analysis Of The Recommended Knowledge For The Software Project Management Discipline

According to the PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge), project management is “the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements” [1]. Project Management has proven to be one of the most important disciplines at the moment of determining the success of any project [2][3][4]. Given that many of the activities covered by this discipline can be said that are “horizontal” for any kind of domain, the importance of acknowledge the concepts and practices becomes even more obvious. The specific case of the projects that fall in the domain of Software Engineering are not the exception about the great influence of Project Management for their success. The critical role that this discipline plays in the industry has come to numbers. A report by McKinsey & Co [4] shows that the establishment of programs for the teaching of critical skills of project management can improve the performance of the project in time and costs. As an example of the above, the reports exposes: “One defense organization used these programs to train several waves of project managers and leaders who together administered a portfolio of more than 1,000 capital projects ranging in Project management size from $100,000 to $500 million. Managers who successfully completed the training were able to cut costs on most projects by between 20 and 35 percent. Over time, the organization expects savings of about 15 percent of its entire baseline spending”. In a white paper by the PMI (Project Management Institute) about the value of project management [5], it is stated that: “Leading organizations across sectors and geographic borders have been steadily embracing project management as a way to control spending and improve project results”. According to the research made by the PMI for the paper, after the economical crisis “Executives discovered that adhering to project management methods and strategies reduced risks, cut costs and improved success rates—all vital to surviving the economic crisis”. In every elite company, a proper execution of the project management discipline has become a must. Several members of the software industry have putted effort into achieving ways of assuring high quality results from projects; many standards, best practices, methodologies and other resources have been produced by experts from different fields of expertise. In the industry and the academic community, there is a continuous research on how to teach better software engineering together with project management [4][6]. For the general practices of Project Management the PMI produced a guide of the required knowledge that any project manager should have in their toolbox to lead any kind of project, this guide is called the PMBOK. On the side of best practices 10 and required knowledge for the Software Engineering discipline, the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) developed the SWEBOK (Software Engineering Body of Knowledge) in collaboration with software industry experts and academic researchers, introducing into the guide many of the needed knowledge for a 5-year expertise software engineer [7]. The SWEBOK also covers management from the perspective of a software project. This thesis is developed to provide guidance to practitioners and members of the academic community about project management applied to software engineering. The way used in this thesis to get useful information for practitioners is to take an industry-approved guide for software engineering professionals such as the SWEBOK, and compare the content to what is found in the PMBOK. After comparing the contents of the SWEBOK and the PMBOK, what is found missing in the SWEBOK is used to give recommendations on how to enrich project management skills for a software engineering professional. Recommendations for members of the academic community on the other hand, are given taking into account the GSwE2009 (Graduated Software Engineering 2009) standard [8]. GSwE2009 is often used as a main reference for software engineering master programs [9]. The standard is mostly based on the content of the SWEBOK, plus some contents that are considered to reinforce the education of software engineering. Given the similarities between the SWEBOK and the GSwE2009, the results of comparing SWEBOK and PMBOK are also considered valid to enrich what the GSwE2009 proposes. So in the end the recommendations for practitioners end up being also useful for the academic community and their strategies to teach project management in the context of software engineering.

Supporting the design and development of Project Based Learning courses.

The use of Project Based Learning has spread widely over the last decades, not only throughout countries but also among disciplines. One of the most significant characteristics of this methodology is the use of ill-structured problems as central activity during the course, which represents an important difficulty for both teachers and students. This work presents a model, supported by a tool, focused on helping teachers and students in Project Based Learning, overcoming these difficulties. Firstly, teachers are guided in designing the project following the main principles of this methodology. Once the project has been specified at the desired level of depth, the same tool helps students to finish the project specification and organize the implementation. Collaborative work among different users is allowed in both phases. This tool has been satisfactorily tested designing two real projects used in Computer Engineering and Software Engineering degrees.

Automated end user-centred adaptation of web components through automated description logic-based reasoning

Context: This paper addresses one of the major end-user development (EUD) challenges, namely, how to pack today?s EUD support tools with composable elements. This would give end users better access to more components which they can use to build a solution tailored to their own needs. The success of later end-user software engineering (EUSE) activities largely depends on how many components each tool has and how adaptable components are to multiple problem domains. Objective: A system for automatically adapting heterogeneous components to a common development environment would offer a sizeable saving of time and resources within the EUD support tool construction process. This paper presents an automated adaptation system for transforming EUD components to a standard format. Method: This system is based on the use of description logic. Based on a generic UML2 data model, this description logic is able to check whether an end-user component can be transformed to this modeling language through subsumption or as an instance of the UML2 model. Besides it automatically finds a consistent, non-ambiguous and finite set of XSLT mappings to automatically prepare data in order to leverage the component as part of a tool that conforms to the target UML2 component model. Results: The proposed system has been successfully applied to components from four prominent EUD tools. These components were automatically converted to a standard format. In order to validate the proposed system, rich internet applications (RIA) used as an operational support system for operators at a large services company were developed using automatically adapted standard format components. These RIAs would be impossible to develop using each EUD tool separately. Conclusion: The positive results of applying our system for automatically adapting components from current tool catalogues are indicative of the system?s effectiveness. Use of this system could foster the growth of web EUD component catalogues, leveraging a vast ecosystem of user-centred SaaS to further current EUSE trends.

REST service testing based on inferred XML schemas

The concept of service oriented architecture has been extensively explored in software engineering, due to the fact that it produces architectures made up of several interconnected modules, easy to reuse when building new systems. This approach to design would be impossible without interconnection mechanisms such as REST (Representationa State Transfer) services, which allow module communication while minimizing coupling. . However, this low coupling brings disadvantages, such as the lack of transparency, which makes it difficult to sistematically create tests without knowledge of the inner working of a system. In this article, we present an automatic error detection system for REST services, based on a statistical analysis over responses produced at multiple service invocations. Thus, a service can be systematically tested without knowing its full specification. The method can find errors in REST services which could not be identified by means of traditional testing methods, and provides limited testing coverage for services whose response format is unknown. It can be also useful as a complement to other testing mechanisms.

ITIL in Small to Medium-Sized Enterprises: toward a proposal based on an ITIL processes implementation sequence and a pofile scheme strategy for implementing the first process in the sequence

The backdrop of actual problematic about the implementation of Information Technology (IT) services management in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) will be described. It will be exposed the reasons why reaching a maturity/capability level through well-known standards or the implementation of good software engineering practices by means of IT infrastructure Library are really difficult to achieve by SMEs. Also, the solutions to the exposed problems will be explained. Also master thesis goals are presented in terms of: purpose, research questions, research goals, objectives and scope. Finally, thesis structure is described.

Are team personality and climate related to satisfaction and software quality? Aggregating results from a twice replicated experiment

Research into software engineering teams focuses on human and social team factors. Social psychology deals with the study of team formation and has found that personality factors and group processes such as team climate are related to team effectiveness. However, there are only a handful of empirical studies dealing with personality and team climate and their relationship to software development team effectiveness. Objective We present aggregate results of a twice replicated quasi-experiment that evaluates the relationships between personality, team climate, product quality and satisfaction in software development teams. Method Our experimental study measures the personalities of team members based on the Big Five personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism) and team climate factors (participative safety, support for innovation, team vision and task orientation) preferences and perceptions. We aggregate the results of the three studies through a meta-analysis of correlations. The study was conducted with students. Results The aggregation of results from the baseline experiment and two replications corroborates the following findings. There is a positive relationship between all four climate factors and satisfaction in software development teams. Teams whose members score highest for the agreeableness personality factor have the highest satisfaction levels. The results unveil a significant positive correlation between the extraversion personality factor and software product quality. High participative safety and task orientation climate perceptions are significantly related to quality. Conclusions First, more efficient software development teams can be formed heeding personality factors like agreeableness and extraversion. Second, the team climate generated in software development teams should be monitored for team member satisfaction. Finally, aspects like people feeling safe giving their opinions or encouraging team members to work hard at their job can have an impact on software quality. Software project managers can take advantage of these factors to promote developer satisfaction and improve the resulting product.

Dificultades en el aprendizaje del diseño de software orientado a objetos: un estudio cualitativo longitudinal

Las compañías de desarrollo de software buscan reducir costes a través del desarrollo de diseños que permitan: a) facilidad en la distribución del trabajo de desarrollo, con la menor comunicación de las partes; b) modificabilidad, permitiendo realizar cambios sobre un módulo sin alterar las otras partes y; c) comprensibilidad, permitiendo estudiar un módulo del sistema a la vez. Estas características elementales en el diseño de software se logran a través del diseño de sistemas cuasi-descomponibles, cuyo modelo teórico fue introducido por Simon en su búsqueda de una teoría general de los sistemas. En el campo del diseño de software, Parnas propone un camino práctico para lograr sistemas cuasi-descomponibles llamado el Principio de Ocultación de Información. El Principio de Ocultación de Información es un criterio diferente de descomposición en módulos, cuya implementación logra las características deseables de un diseño eficiente a nivel del proceso de desarrollo y mantenimiento. El Principio y el enfoque orientado a objetos se relacionan debido a que el enfoque orientado a objetos facilita la implementación del Principio, es por esto que cuando los objetos empiezan a tomar fuerza, también aparecen paralelamente las dificultades en el aprendizaje de diseño de software orientado a objetos, las cuales se mantienen hasta la actualidad, tal como se reporta en la literatura. Las dificultades en el aprendizaje de diseño de software orientado a objetos tiene un gran impacto tanto en las aulas como en la profesión. La detección de estas dificultades permitirá a los docentes corregirlas o encaminarlas antes que éstas se trasladen a la industria. Por otro lado, la industria puede estar advertida de los potenciales problemas en el proceso de desarrollo de software. Esta tesis tiene como objetivo investigar sobre las dificultades en el diseño de software orientado a objetos, a través de un estudio empírico. El estudio fue realizado a través de un estudio de caso cualitativo, que estuvo conformado por tres partes. La primera, un estudio inicial que tuvo como objetivo conocer el entendimiento de los estudiantes alrededor del Principio de Ocultación de Información antes de que iniciasen la instrucción. La segunda parte, un estudio llevado a cabo a lo largo del período de instrucción con la finalidad de obtener las dificultades de diseño de software y su nivel de persistencia. Finalmente, una tercera parte, cuya finalidad fue el estudio de las dificultades esenciales de aprendizaje y sus posibles orígenes. Los participantes de este estudio pertenecieron a la materia de Software Design del European Master in Software Engineering de la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Informáticos de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Los datos cualitativos usados para el análisis procedieron de las observaciones en las horas de clase y exposiciones, entrevistas realizadas a los estudiantes y ejercicios enviados a lo largo del período de instrucción. Las dificultades presentadas en esta tesis en sus diferentes perspectivas, aportaron conocimiento concreto de un estudio de caso en particular, realizando contribuciones relevantes en el área de diseño de software, docencia, industria y a nivel metodológico. ABSTRACT The software development companies look to reduce costs through the development of designs that will: a) ease the distribution of development work with the least communication between the parties; b) changeability, allowing to change a module without disturbing the other parties and; c) understandability, allowing to study a system module at a time. These basic software design features are achieved through the design of quasidecomposable systems, whose theoretical model was introduced by Simon in his search for a general theory of systems. In the field of software design, Parnas offers a practical way to achieve quasi-decomposable systems, called The Information Hiding Principle. The Information Hiding Principle is different criterion for decomposition into modules, whose implementation achieves the desirable characteristics of an efficient design at the development and maintenance level. The Principle and the object-oriented approach are related because the object-oriented approach facilitates the implementation of The Principle, which is why when objects begin to take hold, also appear alongside the difficulties in learning an object-oriented software design, which remain to this day, as reported in the literature. Difficulties in learning object-oriented software design has a great impact both in the classroom and in the profession. The detection of these difficulties will allow teachers to correct or route them before they move to the industry. On the other hand, the industry can be warned of potential problems related to the software development process. This thesis aims to investigate the difficulties in learning the object-oriented design, through an empirical study. The study was conducted through a qualitative case study, which consisted of three parts. The first, an initial study was aimed to understand the knowledge of the students around The Information Hiding Principle before they start the instruction. The second part, a study was conducted during the entire period of instruction in order to obtain the difficulties of software design and their level of persistence. Finally, a third party, whose purpose was to study the essential difficulties of learning and their possible sources. Participants in this study belonged to the field of Software Design of the European Master in Software Engineering at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Informáticos of Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. The qualitative data used for the analysis came from the observations in class time and exhibitions, performed interviews with students and exercises sent over the period of instruction. The difficulties presented in this thesis, in their different perspectives, provided concrete knowledge of a particular case study, making significant contributions in the area of software design, teaching, industry and methodological level.

Development of a tool for designing tests based on statistics and metadata

Background: This project’s idea arose derived of the need of the professors of the department “Computer Languages and Systems and Software Engineering (DLSIIS)” to develop exams with multiple choice questions in a more productive and comfortable way than the one they are currently using. The goal of this project is to develop an application that can be easily used by the professors of the DLSIIS when they need to create a new exam. The main problems of the previous creation process were the difficulty in searching for a question that meets some specific conditions in the previous exam files; and the difficulty for editing exams because of the format of the employed text files. Result: The results shown in this document allow the reader to understand how the final application works and how it addresses successfully every customer need. The elements that will help the reader to understand the application are the structure of the application, the design of the different components, diagrams that show the workflow of the application and some selected fragments of code. Conclusions: The goals stated in the application requirements are finally met. In addition, there are some thoughts about the work performed during the development of the application and how it improved the author skills in web development.

Towards a model-driven engineering approach of data mining

Nowadays, data mining is based on low-level specications of the employed techniques typically bounded to a specic analysis platform. Therefore, data mining lacks a modelling architecture that allows analysts to consider it as a truly software-engineering process. Here, we propose a model-driven approach based on (i) a conceptual modelling framework for data mining, and (ii) a set of model transformations to automatically generate both the data under analysis (via data-warehousing technology) and the analysis models for data mining (tailored to a specic platform). Thus, analysts can concentrate on the analysis problem via conceptual data-mining models instead of low-level programming tasks related to the underlying-platform technical details. These tasks are now entrusted to the model-transformations scaffolding.

Integrating the development of data mining and data warehouses via model-driven engineering

Data mining is one of the most important analysis techniques to automatically extract knowledge from large amount of data. Nowadays, data mining is based on low-level specifications of the employed techniques typically bounded to a specific analysis platform. Therefore, data mining lacks a modelling architecture that allows analysts to consider it as a truly software-engineering process. Bearing in mind this situation, we propose a model-driven approach which is based on (i) a conceptual modelling framework for data mining, and (ii) a set of model transformations to automatically generate both the data under analysis (that is deployed via data-warehousing technology) and the analysis models for data mining (tailored to a specific platform). Thus, analysts can concentrate on understanding the analysis problem via conceptual data-mining models instead of wasting efforts on low-level programming tasks related to the underlying-platform technical details. These time consuming tasks are now entrusted to the model-transformations scaffolding. The feasibility of our approach is shown by means of a hypothetical data-mining scenario where a time series analysis is required.

Empirical study on the maintainability of Web applications: Model-driven Engineering vs Code-centric

Model-driven Engineering (MDE) approaches are often acknowledged to improve the maintainability of the resulting applications. However, there is a scarcity of empirical evidence that backs their claimed benefits and limitations with respect to code-centric approaches. The purpose of this paper is to compare the performance and satisfaction of junior software maintainers while executing maintainability tasks on Web applications with two different development approaches, one being OOH4RIA, a model-driven approach, and the other being a code-centric approach based on Visual Studio .NET and the Agile Unified Process. We have conducted a quasi-experiment with 27 graduated students from the University of Alicante. They were randomly divided into two groups, and each group was assigned to a different Web application on which they performed a set of maintainability tasks. The results show that maintaining Web applications with OOH4RIA clearly improves the performance of subjects. It also tips the satisfaction balance in favor of OOH4RIA, although not significantly. Model-driven development methods seem to improve both the developers’ objective performance and subjective opinions on ease of use of the method. This notwithstanding, further experimentation is needed to be able to generalize the results to different populations, methods, languages and tools, different domains and different application sizes.