Techniques for Visualization and Interaction in Software Architecture Optimization
Institute of Software Technology Reliable Software Systems University of Stuttgart Universitätsstraße 38 D–70569 Stuttgart Masterarbeit Techniques for Visualization and Interaction in Software Architecture Optimization Sebastian Frank Course of Study: Softwaretechnik Examiner: Dr.-Ing. André van Hoorn Supervisor: Dr.-Ing. André van Hoorn Dr. J. Andrés Díaz-Pace, UNICEN, ARG Dr. Santiago Vidal, UNICEN, ARG Commenced: March 25, 2019 Completed: September 25, 2019 CR-Classification: D.2.11, H.5.2, H.1.2 Abstract Software architecture optimization aims at improving the architecture of software systems with regard to a set of quality attributes, e.g., performance, reliability, and modifiability. However, particular tasks in the optimization process are hard to automate. For this reason, architects have to participate in the optimization process, e.g., by making trade-offs and selecting acceptable architectural proposals. The existing software architecture optimization approaches only offer limited support in assisting architects in the necessary tasks by visualizing the architectural proposals. In the best case, these approaches provide very basic visualizations, but often results are only delivered in textual form, which does not allow for an efficient assessment by humans. Hence, this work investigates strategies and techniques to assist architects in specific use cases of software architecture optimization through visualization and interaction. Based on this, an approach to assist architects in these use cases is proposed. A prototype of the proposed approach has been implemented. Domain experts solved tasks based on two case studies. The results show that the approach can assist architects in some of the typical use cases of the domain. Con- ducted time measurements indicate that several hundred architectural proposals can be handled.
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