Software Evolution

Course code: 2IS55

Time and location: Monday, 13:45-15:30 (5th and 6th hours; AUD 12) and Thursday, 15:45-17:30 (AUD 12). The course has been videotaped, you can find the lectures on http://videocollege.tue.nl/, (2) Computer Science, 2IS55. There will be some (minor) changes this year.
Target audience: Master (CSE,ES,BIS,AT) students interested in Software Engineering. Students intending to work on their graduation project at the Software Engineering & Technology specialization are specially encouraged to participate. Students following other programs at TU/e are welcome to join the class, subject to the regulations pertaining to the program followed and my approval.
Whether you would like to become a software developer or a researcher, a quality manager or a software architect, a requirements engineer or a consultant, 2IS55 is for you!

Background information on the course:

Nowadays change is often considered as the only constant factor in software development. Successful software systems are, therefore, those systems that can adapt to the ever changing requirements of the environment. One can, thus, compare this process of adaptation to the Darwin's "Survival of the fittest" principle. The problem is, however, that not much is known about evolution of software systems. This course will explore issues related to software evolution: why it is difficult, how we can cope with this difficulty and what can we learn from the past. Specifically, the course will look at advanced tools and techniques proposed by the research community to understand, ease and automate software evolution. In this course, you will have a chance not only to learn about methods and tools of software evolution, but also to apply them to assess software evolution of an existing software system.

Prerequisites: An undergraduate software engineering course. Up-to-date knowledge of Java. Knowledge of scripting languages is an advantage.

Learning objectives:

After completing this course, you will be expected to be able to

Assignments

The assignments will be made available on Peach. You can access Peach with your usual university login. Please do not forget to join "2IS55 Software Evolution".
Keep in mind that the deadlines are strict and no late submissions will be accepted (either by Peach or by me).
This year we will have five assignments. Assignments A1, A3 and A5 are individual. Assignments A2 and A4 can be carried out in pairs.

You should submit at least four assignments: failure to do so will result in a failing grade (5). The final grade of students that have submitted at least four assignments will be calculated as the average of the four best assignments.
Deduction policy and grades: A1, A2, A3, A4

Lectures

The list of lectures and topics is subject to change. Powerpoint presentations will be made available after the class.

Location Date Topic
AUD 12 Feb 3 Introduction. S-, P- and E-type systems. Lehman's laws of software evolution.
AUD 12 Feb 6 Requirements Evolution.
AUD 12 Feb 10 Architecture reconstruction (reverse engineering) of structural UML models.
AUD 12 Feb 13 Guest lecture. Dr. Jurgen Vinju. Source code analysis in Rascal. Overview, Tips and tricks
AUD 12 Feb 17 Architecture reconstruction (reverse engineering) of behavioural UML models. Architecture Description Languages
AUD 12 Feb 20 Code duplication
AUD 12 Feb 24 Software repositories. Program differencing.
AUD 12 Feb 27 Repository mining (I): Social aspects
Mar 3 No class. Carnaval.
Mar 7 No class. Carnaval.
AUD 12 Mar 10 Repository mining (II): Files and bugs. Software metrics (I). Metrics and scales.
AUD 12 Mar 13 Software metrics (II). ?LOC. Structure and modularity metrics for imperative programs
AUD 12 Mar 17 Software metrics (III). Structure and modularity metrics for OO-programs. Package metrics. Metrics aggregation. Churn metrics.
AUD 12 Mar 20 Software metrics (IV). Metrics for cost and time estimation. Tests.
AUD 12 Mar 24 Refactoring.
AUD 12 Mar 27 DB migration.
Mar 31 Catch-up week. No class.
Apr 3 Catch-up week. No class.