Expertise in software design : novice and expert models

This paper investigates how software designers use their knowledge during the design process. The research is based on the analysis of the observational and verbal data from three software design teams generated during the conceptual stage of the design process. The knowledge captured from the analysis of the mapped design team data is utilized to generate descriptive models of novice and expert designers. These models contribute to a better understanding of the connections between, and integration of, designer variables, and to a better understanding of software design expertise and its development. The models are transferable to other domains.

Supporting Reuse and Evolution in Software Design

Program design is an area of programming that can benefit significantly from machine-mediated assistance. A proposed tool, called the Design Apprentice (DA), can assist a programmer in the detailed design of programs. The DA supports software reuse through a library of commonly-used algorithmic fragments, or cliches, that codifies standard programming. The cliche library enables the programmer to describe the design of a program concisely. The DA can detect some kinds of inconsistencies and incompleteness in program descriptions. It automates detailed design by automatically selecting appropriate algorithms and data structures. It supports the evolution of program designs by keeping explicit dependencies between the design decisions made. These capabilities of the DA are underlaid bya model of programming, called programming by successive elaboration, which mimics the way programmers interact. Programming by successive elaboration is characterized by the use of breadth-first exposition of layered program descriptions and the successive modifications of descriptions. A scenario is presented to illustrate the concept of the DA. Technques for automating the detailed design process are described. A framework is given in which designs are incrementally augmented and modified by a succession of design steps. A library of cliches and a suite of design steps needed to support the scenario are presented.

Applying CBR to measure similarity of software design structures

This paper examines different ways for measuring similarity between software design models for the purpose of software reuse. Current approaches to this problem are discussed and a set of suitable similarity metrics are proposed and evaluated. Work on the optimisation of weights to increase the competence of a CBR system is presented. A graph matching algorithm and associated metrics capturing the structural similarity between UML class diagrams is presented and demonstrated through an example case.

Programming Principles: Software Design

In this session we look at some of the basics of good code design, including avoiding duplication and designing for loose coupling and high cohesion.

Distance software: design and analysis of distance sampling surveys for estimating population size

1. Distance sampling is a widely used technique for estimating the size or density of biological populations. Many distance sampling designs and most analyses use the software Distance. 2. We briefly review distance sampling and its assumptions, outline the history, structure and capabilities of Distance, and provide hints on its use. 3. Good survey design is a crucial prerequisite for obtaining reliable results. Distance has a survey design engine, with a built-in geographic information system, that allows properties of different proposed designs to be examined via simulation, and survey plans to be generated. 4. A first step in analysis of distance sampling data is modeling the probability of detection. Distance contains three increasingly sophisticated analysis engines for this: conventional distance sampling, which models detection probability as a function of distance from the transect and assumes all objects at zero distance are detected; multiple-covariate distance sampling, which allows covariates in addition to distance; and mark–recapture distance sampling, which relaxes the assumption of certain detection at zero distance. 5. All three engines allow estimation of density or abundance, stratified if required, with associated measures of precision calculated either analytically or via the bootstrap. 6. Advanced analysis topics covered include the use of multipliers to allow analysis of indirect surveys (such as dung or nest surveys), the density surface modeling analysis engine for spatial and habitat-modeling, and information about accessing the analysis engines directly from other software. 7. Synthesis and applications. Distance sampling is a key method for producing abundance and density estimates in challenging field conditions. The theory underlying the methods continues to expand to cope with realistic estimation situations. In step with theoretical developments, state-of- the-art software that implements these methods is described that makes the methods accessible to practicing ecologists.

Hardware/Software Design of Dynamic Real-Time Schedulers for Embedded Multiprocessor Systems

The new generation of multicore processors opens new perspectives for the design of embedded systems. Multiprocessing, however, poses new challenges to the scheduling of real-time applications, in which the ever-increasing computational demands are constantly flanked by the need of meeting critical time constraints. Many research works have contributed to this field introducing new advanced scheduling algorithms. However, despite many of these works have solidly demonstrated their effectiveness, the actual support for multiprocessor real-time scheduling offered by current operating systems is still very limited. This dissertation deals with implementative aspects of real-time schedulers in modern embedded multiprocessor systems. The first contribution is represented by an open-source scheduling framework, which is capable of realizing complex multiprocessor scheduling policies, such as G-EDF, on conventional operating systems exploiting only their native scheduler from user-space. A set of experimental evaluations compare the proposed solution to other research projects that pursue the same goals by means of kernel modifications, highlighting comparable scheduling performances. The principles that underpin the operation of the framework, originally designed for symmetric multiprocessors, have been further extended first to asymmetric ones, which are subjected to major restrictions such as the lack of support for task migrations, and later to re-programmable hardware architectures (FPGAs). In the latter case, this work introduces a scheduling accelerator, which offloads most of the scheduling operations to the hardware and exhibits extremely low scheduling jitter. The realization of a portable scheduling framework presented many interesting software challenges. One of these has been represented by timekeeping. In this regard, a further contribution is represented by a novel data structure, called addressable binary heap (ABH). Such ABH, which is conceptually a pointer-based implementation of a binary heap, shows very interesting average and worst-case performances when addressing the problem of tick-less timekeeping of high-resolution timers.