Multi-view Software Architecture Reconstruction

Abstract

<p>Most approaches in the reverse engineering literature generate a single view of a software system. However, a single view recovery restricts the scope of the reconstruction process to limited types of information. In this thesis, we propose a multi-view approach that recovers three views of software systems: design, behavior, and structure. The design view is reconstructed through transforming a number of task scenarios into design diagrams (class diagrams, ER diagrams, and activity diagrams) using a novel scenario domain model that allows us to parse the task scenarios and populate an objectbase of actors and actions. The behavior view is represented through a set of profiles that contain the dynamic information extracted from executing a set of relevant task scenarios on the software system. This set of task scenarios covers frequently used software features. The obtained profiling information serves as the dynamic characteristics of the software system that would be embedded into the structure view recovery. Finally, we propose a pattern based structure view recovery that defines the high-level architecture of the software system using abstract components and interconnections. In this context, both static and dynamic aspects of the software system are used to collect software entities into cohesive components with reduced dynamic interactions. The whole process is modelled as a Valued Constraint Satisfaction Problem (VCSP). As a case study we applied</p>