Abstract We propose a novel framework for adapting and evolving software requirements models. The... more Abstract We propose a novel framework for adapting and evolving software requirements models. The framework uses model checking and machine learning techniques for verifying properties and evolving model descriptions. The paper offers two novel contributions and a preliminary evaluation and application of the ideas presented. First, the framework is capable of coping with errors in the specification process so that performance degrades gracefully.
1) Fake driver arrives city centre 2) Fake driver sends request for notification of available nea... more 1) Fake driver arrives city centre 2) Fake driver sends request for notification of available near-by parking spaces 3) Fake driver receives notification of available near-by parking spaces 4) Fake driver views details of available near-by parking spaces 5) Fake driver arrives at notified empty parking space
Process and product improvements are noble goals. Structured, document-driven processes have play... more Process and product improvements are noble goals. Structured, document-driven processes have played an important part in the development of some mission critical systems. Likewise, agile and lean development processes are showing increasing promise in competitive, changing environments. The'software as a service'paradigm is adding a further challenging dimension to the mix, and is redefining the notion of a software product.
We believe that the software engineering community must concentrate efforts on the techniques, me... more We believe that the software engineering community must concentrate efforts on the techniques, methodologies, and tools needed to design, implement, and maintain critical software systems that evolve successfully. This special issue summarizes many of the topics discussed and embodies what we believe to be some of the most important research challenges for evolving critical software systems—without incurring prohibitive costs.
Abstract Our aim is to gain a better understanding of the relationship between bad smells and des... more Abstract Our aim is to gain a better understanding of the relationship between bad smells and design principle violations, in order to better identify the root causes of a given set of bad smells and target refactoring efforts more effectively. In particular, knowing which bad smells point to important design problems would help to focus developers' efforts.
Abstract Donald Rumsfeld famously identified three classes of knowledge: known knowns, known unkn... more Abstract Donald Rumsfeld famously identified three classes of knowledge: known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns. The three knowledge classes map surprisingly well onto requirements knowledge but are all outside the scope of this panel. Our focus is on what Rumsfeld missed: unknown knowns. In RE terms, an unknown known is knowledge that a person (say, a customer) holds, but which they withhold (say, from a requirements analyst).
ABSTRACT Increasingly sophisticated technology makes it possible to build more complex systems mo... more ABSTRACT Increasingly sophisticated technology makes it possible to build more complex systems more quickly. However a system is only useful to the customer if it addresses the real requirements. Eliciting and specifying customer requirements in a precise and unambiguous way is critical to the success of a project. Customers often find it difficult to articulate their requirements, and for large, complex systems these requirements are often conflicting.
Abstract At the heart of the ICSE-2005 program are the 44 research papers selected by the Program... more Abstract At the heart of the ICSE-2005 program are the 44 research papers selected by the Program Committee (PC) from the 313 submissions to the conference. All submissions were rigorously reviewed by the PC--each submission received reviews from at least three different PC members. The PC then met on 5-6 November 2004 in Newport Beach, California, USA, to discuss the submissions and make the final selections for the program.
Abstract The restriction of access is a mechanism by which organisations protect their informatio... more Abstract The restriction of access is a mechanism by which organisations protect their information assets. Requirements models use actor definitions to describe users and to specify their access policies. Actors normally represent roles that users adopt, while roles can represent different things, such as a position in an organisation or the assignment of a task. Current requirements modelling approaches do not provide a systematic way of defining roles for incorporation into access policies.
Abstract This paper examines the use of language, specifically verbs, as stimuli for concept gene... more Abstract This paper examines the use of language, specifically verbs, as stimuli for concept generation. Because language has been shown to be important to the reasoning process in general as well as to specific reasoning processes that are central to the design process, we are investigating the relationship between language and conceptual design. The use of language to facilitate different stages of the design process has been investigated in the past.
Abstract An agile software development team relies on communication and collaboration to perform ... more Abstract An agile software development team relies on communication and collaboration to perform requirements engineering activities, rather than on dedicated analysis tools or documentation. Evidence from practice indicates that two simple physical artefacts (story cards and the wall), used in a particular and disciplined manner, and supported by appropriate social activity, are key to the success of co-located agile teams.
We describe a general technique for identifying modules in legacy code. The method is based on co... more We describe a general technique for identifying modules in legacy code. The method is based on concept analysis¿a branch of lattice theory that can be used to identify similarities among a set of objects based on their attributes. We discuss how concept analysis can identify potential modules using both ¿positive¿ and ¿negative¿ information. We present an algorithmic framework to construct a lattice of concepts from a program, where each concept represents a potential module.
Abstract We present a novel technique that automatically alerts authors of requirements to the pr... more Abstract We present a novel technique that automatically alerts authors of requirements to the presence of potentially dangerous ambiguities. We first establish the notion of nocuous ambiguities, which are those that are likely to lead to misunderstandings. We test our approach on coordination ambiguities, which occur when words such as and or are used. Our starting point is a dataset of ambiguous phrases from a requirements corpus and associated human judgements about their interpretation.
'The customer is always right?'A sensible motto, one might argue, for the software industry, wher... more 'The customer is always right?'A sensible motto, one might argue, for the software industry, where systems often'fail'because they do not meet customer requirements. In recent years requirements engineering (RE) has emerged, or some might say, has reinforced the need to elicit, specify and analyse customer requirements. For example, in September 1995 1 participated in a national workshop on RE entitled'Connecting with the customer'.
Abstract Gazing across Sydney Harbour for the first time a few months ago, I was awed, as most vi... more Abstract Gazing across Sydney Harbour for the first time a few months ago, I was awed, as most visitors are, by the two beautiful feats of engineering that dominated the scene: the Sydney Harbour Bridge built in the first half of the century, and the Sydney Opera House completed in the 1970s. Later on during my visit to Sydney, I was given some thought-provoking statistics about these two structures
Security incidents can be costly; Nick Leeson's trading resulted in losses of over£ 800 million, ... more Security incidents can be costly; Nick Leeson's trading resulted in losses of over£ 800 million, thus causing the bankruptcy of Barings Bank (Brown & Steenbeek, 2001), and John Rusnak defrauded the Allied Irish Bank of a similar amount in 2002. They both exploited weaknesses in the computer systems used to control their trading activities. Thus, while there is a need to keep outsiders from breaking in, there is also a need to prevent users with legitimate access rights from abusing their privileges.
Abstract We propose a novel framework for adapting and evolving software requirements models. The... more Abstract We propose a novel framework for adapting and evolving software requirements models. The framework uses model checking and machine learning techniques for verifying properties and evolving model descriptions. The paper offers two novel contributions and a preliminary evaluation and application of the ideas presented. First, the framework is capable of coping with errors in the specification process so that performance degrades gracefully.
1) Fake driver arrives city centre 2) Fake driver sends request for notification of available nea... more 1) Fake driver arrives city centre 2) Fake driver sends request for notification of available near-by parking spaces 3) Fake driver receives notification of available near-by parking spaces 4) Fake driver views details of available near-by parking spaces 5) Fake driver arrives at notified empty parking space
Process and product improvements are noble goals. Structured, document-driven processes have play... more Process and product improvements are noble goals. Structured, document-driven processes have played an important part in the development of some mission critical systems. Likewise, agile and lean development processes are showing increasing promise in competitive, changing environments. The'software as a service'paradigm is adding a further challenging dimension to the mix, and is redefining the notion of a software product.
We believe that the software engineering community must concentrate efforts on the techniques, me... more We believe that the software engineering community must concentrate efforts on the techniques, methodologies, and tools needed to design, implement, and maintain critical software systems that evolve successfully. This special issue summarizes many of the topics discussed and embodies what we believe to be some of the most important research challenges for evolving critical software systems—without incurring prohibitive costs.
Abstract Our aim is to gain a better understanding of the relationship between bad smells and des... more Abstract Our aim is to gain a better understanding of the relationship between bad smells and design principle violations, in order to better identify the root causes of a given set of bad smells and target refactoring efforts more effectively. In particular, knowing which bad smells point to important design problems would help to focus developers' efforts.
Abstract Donald Rumsfeld famously identified three classes of knowledge: known knowns, known unkn... more Abstract Donald Rumsfeld famously identified three classes of knowledge: known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns. The three knowledge classes map surprisingly well onto requirements knowledge but are all outside the scope of this panel. Our focus is on what Rumsfeld missed: unknown knowns. In RE terms, an unknown known is knowledge that a person (say, a customer) holds, but which they withhold (say, from a requirements analyst).
ABSTRACT Increasingly sophisticated technology makes it possible to build more complex systems mo... more ABSTRACT Increasingly sophisticated technology makes it possible to build more complex systems more quickly. However a system is only useful to the customer if it addresses the real requirements. Eliciting and specifying customer requirements in a precise and unambiguous way is critical to the success of a project. Customers often find it difficult to articulate their requirements, and for large, complex systems these requirements are often conflicting.
Abstract At the heart of the ICSE-2005 program are the 44 research papers selected by the Program... more Abstract At the heart of the ICSE-2005 program are the 44 research papers selected by the Program Committee (PC) from the 313 submissions to the conference. All submissions were rigorously reviewed by the PC--each submission received reviews from at least three different PC members. The PC then met on 5-6 November 2004 in Newport Beach, California, USA, to discuss the submissions and make the final selections for the program.
Abstract The restriction of access is a mechanism by which organisations protect their informatio... more Abstract The restriction of access is a mechanism by which organisations protect their information assets. Requirements models use actor definitions to describe users and to specify their access policies. Actors normally represent roles that users adopt, while roles can represent different things, such as a position in an organisation or the assignment of a task. Current requirements modelling approaches do not provide a systematic way of defining roles for incorporation into access policies.
Abstract This paper examines the use of language, specifically verbs, as stimuli for concept gene... more Abstract This paper examines the use of language, specifically verbs, as stimuli for concept generation. Because language has been shown to be important to the reasoning process in general as well as to specific reasoning processes that are central to the design process, we are investigating the relationship between language and conceptual design. The use of language to facilitate different stages of the design process has been investigated in the past.
Abstract An agile software development team relies on communication and collaboration to perform ... more Abstract An agile software development team relies on communication and collaboration to perform requirements engineering activities, rather than on dedicated analysis tools or documentation. Evidence from practice indicates that two simple physical artefacts (story cards and the wall), used in a particular and disciplined manner, and supported by appropriate social activity, are key to the success of co-located agile teams.
We describe a general technique for identifying modules in legacy code. The method is based on co... more We describe a general technique for identifying modules in legacy code. The method is based on concept analysis¿a branch of lattice theory that can be used to identify similarities among a set of objects based on their attributes. We discuss how concept analysis can identify potential modules using both ¿positive¿ and ¿negative¿ information. We present an algorithmic framework to construct a lattice of concepts from a program, where each concept represents a potential module.
Abstract We present a novel technique that automatically alerts authors of requirements to the pr... more Abstract We present a novel technique that automatically alerts authors of requirements to the presence of potentially dangerous ambiguities. We first establish the notion of nocuous ambiguities, which are those that are likely to lead to misunderstandings. We test our approach on coordination ambiguities, which occur when words such as and or are used. Our starting point is a dataset of ambiguous phrases from a requirements corpus and associated human judgements about their interpretation.
'The customer is always right?'A sensible motto, one might argue, for the software industry, wher... more 'The customer is always right?'A sensible motto, one might argue, for the software industry, where systems often'fail'because they do not meet customer requirements. In recent years requirements engineering (RE) has emerged, or some might say, has reinforced the need to elicit, specify and analyse customer requirements. For example, in September 1995 1 participated in a national workshop on RE entitled'Connecting with the customer'.
Abstract Gazing across Sydney Harbour for the first time a few months ago, I was awed, as most vi... more Abstract Gazing across Sydney Harbour for the first time a few months ago, I was awed, as most visitors are, by the two beautiful feats of engineering that dominated the scene: the Sydney Harbour Bridge built in the first half of the century, and the Sydney Opera House completed in the 1970s. Later on during my visit to Sydney, I was given some thought-provoking statistics about these two structures
Security incidents can be costly; Nick Leeson's trading resulted in losses of over£ 800 million, ... more Security incidents can be costly; Nick Leeson's trading resulted in losses of over£ 800 million, thus causing the bankruptcy of Barings Bank (Brown & Steenbeek, 2001), and John Rusnak defrauded the Allied Irish Bank of a similar amount in 2002. They both exploited weaknesses in the computer systems used to control their trading activities. Thus, while there is a need to keep outsiders from breaking in, there is also a need to prevent users with legitimate access rights from abusing their privileges.
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