Evolution in software and related areas

ABSTRACT

After briefly discussing the meaning of the term evolution in the context of software, its technology, the software process and related domains, the paper describes some of the facets and implications of the evolution phenomenon as identified during many years of active interest in the topic, most recently during the FEAST (Feedback, Evolution And Software Technology) projects.

References

1. {abd91} T. K. Abdel-Hamid and S. E. Madnick, Software Project Dynamics -- An Integrated Approach, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1991, 264 pps.]]
2. {ant01} A. Antón and C. Potts, Functional Paleontology: System Evolution as the User Sees It, ICSE 23, Toronto, 12-19 May, 2001, pp. 421 - 430]]
3. {apt86} K. R. Apt and D. Kozen, Limits for Automatic Program Verification of Finite-State Concurrent Systems, Inform. Proc. Letters, v. 22, n. 6, 1986]]
4. {bas96} V. R. Basili et al, Understanding and Predicting the Process of Software Maintenance Releases, ICSE 18, Berlin, March 25-29, 1996]]
5. {bel72} L. A. Belady and M. M. Lehman, An Introduction to Program Growth Dynamics, in W. Freiburger, editor, Statistical Computer Performance Evaluation, Academic Press, New York, 1972, pp. 503-511]]
6. {ben00} K. H. Bennett and V. T. Rajlich (2000), Software Maintenance and Evolution: a Roadmap, in A. Finkelstein (ed.), The Future of Software Engineering, ICSE 2000, June 4-11, 2000, Limerick, Ireland, ACM Order Nr. 592000-1, pp 75 - 87]]
7. {boe76} B. W. Boehm, Software Engineering, IEEE Trans. on Comp. vol. C-25, n. 12, pp. 1226 - 1241]]
8. {boe88} id., A Spiral Model of Software Development and Enhancement, Computer, v. 21, May 1988, pp. 61-72]]
9. {cho81} C. K. S. Chong Hok Yuen (1981), Phenomenology of Program Maintenance and Evolution, PhD thesis, Department of Computing, Imperial College]]
10. {SEEC02} Symposium on Software Evolution and Evolutionary Computation, U. of Hertfordshire, U.K, 7-8 Feb 2002, forthcoming]]
11. {dij68a} E. W. Dijkstra, A Constructive Approach to the Problem of Program Correctness, BIT 8, 3, 1968, pp. 174 - 186]]
12. {dij68b} id., GOTO Statement Considered Harmful, Letter to the Editor, CACM, v. 11, n. 11, 1968, pp. 147 - 148]]
13. {dij72a} id., Notes on Structured Programming, in Dahl, Dijkstra and Hoare, Structured Programming, Acad. Pr. 1972, pp. 1 - 82]]
14. {dij72b} id., The Humble Programmer, ACM Turing Award Lecture, CACM, v. 15, n.10, Oct. 1972, pp. 859 - 866]]
15. {ele98} K. El Eman et al, SPICE: The Theory and Practice of Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination, IEEE CS Press, 1998]]
16. {gri78} D. Gries, Programming Methodology--A Collection of Articles by Members of IFIP WG2.3, Springer V., NY, 1978, p. 437]]
17. {FFSE01} Intl. Session on Formal Foundations of Software Evolution. 13 March 2001, Lisbon, Portugal http://prog.vub.ac.be/poolresearch/FFSE/FFSE-Workshop.html]]
18. {for61} J. W. Forrester, Industrial Dynamics, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1961]]
19. {fow99} M. Fowler, Refactoring: Improving the Design of Code, Addison-Wesley, New York]]
20. {gil81} T. Gilb, Evolutionary Development, ACM Softw. Eng. Notes, April, 1981]]
21. {gil88} id., Principles of Software Engineering Management, Addison-Wesley, Wokingham England, 1988]]
22. {gdf00} M. W. Godfrey and Q. Tu, Evolution in Open Source Software: A Case Study, Proc. Intl. Conf. on Software Maintenance, ICSM 2000, 11-14 Oct., San Jose, CA, pp. 131-142]]
23. {har02} M. Hartswood et al, "Cunning Plans": Some Notes on Plans, Procedures and CSCW, RQ Newsletter, issue 25, Jan. 2002, http://www.resg.org.uk <as of Jan 2002>]]
24. {hoa69} C. A. R. Hoare, An Axiomatic Basis for Computer Programming, CACM, v. 12, n.10, Oct., 1969, pp. 576 - 583]]
25. {hoa71} id., Proof of a Program FIND, CACM, v. 14, n. 1, Jan., 1971]]
26. {hum89} W. S. Humphrey, Managing the Software Process, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1989]]
27. {hum97} id., Introduction to the Personal Software Process(SM), Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1997]]
28. {lac96} A. R. Lacey, A Dictionary of Philosophy, 3rd Ed., Routledge, London, 1996, 386 pps]]
29. {kah01} G. Kahen et al, System Dynamics Modelling of Software Evolution Processes for Policy Investigation: Approach and Example, J. of Sys. and Softw., v. 59, 2001, pp. 271-281]]
30. {kem99} C. F. Kemerer and S. Slaughter, An Empirical Approach to Studying Software Evolution, IEEE Trans. on Softw. Eng., vol. 25, n. 4, July/August 1999, pp. 493 - 509]]
31. {kuv94} P. Kuvaja et al, Software Process Assessment and Improvement-The Bootstrap Approach, Blackwell, 1994]]
32. {leh69} *M. M. Lehman, The Programming Process, IBM Research Report RC2722M, IBM Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York, Sept.]]
33. {leh74} *id., Programs, Cities, Students--Limits to Growth, Imp. Col. 1974, Inaug. Lect. Series, Vol.9, 1970-1974, pp. 211 - 229; also in Gries, 1978]]
34. {leh78} *id., Laws of Program Evolution-Rules and Tools for Programming Management, Proc. Infotech State of the Art Conference, Why Software Projects Fail, April 9-11, 1978, pp. 1V1-1V25]]
35. {leh79} id., The Environment of Design Methodology, Keynote Address, In Proc. Symp. on Formal Design Methodology, Cox TA (ed.). Cambridge, UK, 9-12 Apr. 1979, pp. 17-38, pub. by STL Ltd, Harlow, Essex, UK, 1980.]]
36. {leh80} *id., Program Life Cycles and Laws of Software Evolution, Proc. IEEE Spec. Iss. on Softw. Eng., Sept. 1980, pp. 1060-1076]]
37. {leh84a} id., Program Evolution, Symposium on Empirical Foundations of Computer and Information Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, in J. of Information Proc. and Management, v. 19, n. 1, 19, 38, 1984]]
38. {leh84b} id., A Further Model of Coherent Programming Process, Proc. Softw. Process Workshop, Egham, Surrey, 6 - 8 Feb. 1984, IEEE Cat. no. 84 CH 2044-6, pp. 27-35]]
39. {leh84c} M. M. Lehman, Stenning V and Turski W. M., Another Look at Software Design Methodology, ACM SigSoft Softw. Eng. Notes, v. 9, n. 2, pp. 38 - 53, April 1984]]
40. {leh85} M. M. Lehman and L. A. Belady, Program Evolution--Processes of Software Change, Academic Press, London, 1985]]
41. {leh87} M. M. Lehman, Process Models, Process Programs, Programming Support, Invited Response to a Keynote Address by L. Osterweil, Proc. 9th ICSE, Monterey, CA., March 30-April 2, 1987, pp. 14-16]]
42. {leh91} id., Software Engineering, the Software Process and Their Support, IEE Software Engineering J., Spec. Iss. on Softw. Environments and Factories, 6(5), Sept. 1991, pp. 243 - 258,]]
43. {leh94} id., Feedback in the Software Evolution Process, Keynote Address, CSR Eleventh Annual Workshop on Software Evolution: Models and Metrics, Dublin, 7-9 Sept. 1994, Workshop Proc., Information and Software Technology, sp. is. on Software Maintenance, v. 38, n. 11, 1996, Elsevier, 1996, pp. 681-686]]
44. {leh96} id., Laws of Software Evolution Revisited, pos. pap., EWSPT96, Oct. 1996, LNCS 1149, Springer Verlag, 1997, pp. 108-124]]
45. {leh97} M. M. Lehman et al, Metrics and Laws of Software Evolution -- The Nineties View, Proc. Fourth Int. Symp. on Software Metrics, Metrics 97, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 5-7 Nov. 1997, pp 20-32. Also in K El Eman and N H Madhavji (eds.), Elements of Software Process Assessment and Improvement, IEEE CS Press, 1999, pp. 343-368]]
46. {leh00a} M. M. Lehman, An Approach to a Theory of Software Evolution, EPSRC Proposal, Case for Support Part 2, Dept. of Comp. ICSTM, Dec. 2000, rev. version Sept.2001]]
47. {leh00b} M. M. Lehman and J. F. Ramil, Towards a Theory of Software Evolution -- And its Practical Impact, inv. talk, Proc. ISPSE 2000, Kanazawa, Japan, Nov 1-2, in Katayama T et al (eds.), IEEE Comp. Soc. Press, Los Alamitos, CA, pp. 2 - 11]]
48. {leh00c} id., Software Evolution in the Age of Component Based Software Engineering, IEE Proc. Softw., sp. Iss. on Component Based Software Engineering, v. 147, n. 6, Dec. 2000, pp. 249 - 255, earlier version as Tech. Rep. 98/8, Imp. Col., London, Jun. 1998]]
49. {leh01a} id., Rules and Tools of Software Evolution Planning, Management and Control, Annals of Softw. Eng., Spec. Iss. on Softw. Managmt., v. 11., 2001, pp. 15-44]]
50. {leh01b} id., An Approach to a Theory of Software Evolution, IWPSE 2000, this volume]]
51. {leh01c} M. M. Lehman, J. F. Ramil and U. Sandler, An Approach to Modelling long-term Growth Trends in Software Systems, ICSM 2001, 6-10 Nov., Florence, Italy, pp. 219 - 228]]
52. {leh02} M. M. Lehman and J. F. Ramil, Software Uncertainty, Soft-Ware 2002, 1st Intl. Conf. on Computing in an Imperfect World, Belfast, North Ireland, 8-10 April]]
53. {lju87} L. Ljung, System Identification -- Theory for the User, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 1987]]
54. {luq89} Luqi, Software Evolution through Rapid Prototyping, IEEE Computer, v. 22, n. 5, May 1989, pp. 13 - 25]]
55. {mar02} J. Marciniak (ed.), Encyclopaedia of Software Engineering, 2nd. Edition, Wiley, 2002]]
56. {mit01} R. T. Mittermeir, IWPSE 2001, this volume]]
57. {nau69} P. Naur and B. Randell (eds.), Software Engineering, Report on a Conf. Sponsored by the NATO Sc. Comm., Garmisch, Germany, 7-11 Oct. 1968, Brussels, Sc. Aff. Div., NATO, 1969, 231 pps, http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell/home.formal/NATO/]]
58. {ost87} L. Osterweil, Software Processes Are Software Too, Proc. of the 9th Int. Conf. on Softw. Eng., Monterey, CA, March 30-April 2, 1987, IEEE Comp. Soc. Pub. 767, pp. 2-13]]
59. {ost97} id., Software Processes Are Software Too -- Revisited: An Invited Talk on the Most Influential Paper of ICSE 9, Proc. ICSE 19, Boston, May 17-23, 1997, pp. 540-548]]
60. {pau93} M. C. Paulk, et al, Capability Maturity Model, ver. 1.1, IEEE Software, v. 10, n. 4, 1993, pp. 18 - 27]]
61. {pgs96} T. M. Pigoski, Practical Software Maintenance, Wiley, 1996, pp. 384]]
62. {pir88} S. S. Pirzada, A Statistical Examination of the Evolution of the UNIX System, PhD Thesis, Imperial College, London, 1988]]
63. {pfl98a} S. L. Pfleeger, Software Engineering -- Theory and Practice, Prentice Hall, 1998]]
64. {pfl98b} S. L. Pfleeger, The Nature of System Change, IEEE Software, 15, 3, May-June, pp. 87 - 90, 1998]]
65. {pot84} C. Potts, ed., Proceedings of the Software Process Workshop, Egham, Surrey, Feb., 1984]]
66. {raj00} V. T. Rajlich and K. H. Bennett, A Staged Model for the Software Life Cycle, Computer, Jul., pp. 66 - 71]]
67. {roy70} W. W. Royce, Managing the Development of Large Software Systems, IEEE Wescon, Aug. 1970, pp. 1-9]]
68. {suc01} G. Succi, J. Paulson and A. Eberlein, Preliminary Results from an Empirical Study on the Growth of Open Source and Commercial Software Products, EDSER-3 Wkshop, co-located with ICSE 2001, May 14-15, Toronto]]
69. {tay89} R. N. Taylor et al, Foundations for the Arcadia Environment Architecture, SIGPLAN Notices v. 24, n. 2; Softw. Eng. Symp. on Practical Software Development Environments, spec. iss. Proc. ACM SIGSOF7/SIGPLAN]]
70. {tul89} C. Tully, Representing and Enacting the Software Process, Proc. 4th Int. Worksh. on the Softw. Proc., Jan. 1989, ACM SIGSOFT Softw. Eng. Notes, June 1989]]
71. {tur81} W. M. Turski, Specification as a Theory with Models in the Computer World and in the Real World, Infotech State of the Art Report v. 9, n. 6, 1981, pp 363 - 377]]
72. {tur87} W. M. Turski and T. S. E. Maibaum, The Specification of Computer Programs, Addison-Wesley, Wokingham]]
73. {tur96} id., A Reference Model for the Smooth Growth of Software Systems, IEEE Trans. SE, v. 22, n. 8, pp. 599 - 600]]
74. {tur00} id., An Essay on Software Engineering at the Turn of the Century, in T. Maibaum (ed.): Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering, Proceedings of the Third International Conference FASE 2000. March/April 2000. LNCS 1783, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp. 1 - 20]]
75. {lam00} A. van Lamsweerde, Formal Specification: a Roadmap, in A. Finkelstein (ed.), The Future of Software Engineering, 22nd ICSE, Limerick, Ireland, 2000, ACM Order N. 592000-1, pp. 149-159]]
76. {ven99} Vensim 1999, VENSIM 4 (c) Reference Manual, Ventana System Inc., Harvard, MA]]
77. {wei70} *G. M. Weinberg (1970), Natural Selection as Applied to Computers and Programs, General Systems, v. 15]]
78. {wer98} P. Wernick and M. M. Lehman (1998), Software Process White Box Modelling for FEAST/1, ProSim '98 Workshop, Silver Falls, OR, 23 Jun. 1998. As a rev. version in J. of Sys. and Softw., vol. 46, nos. 2/3, 15 Apr. 1999]]
79. {wir71} N. Wirth, Program Development by Stepwise Refinement, CACM v. 14, n. 4, April, pp. 221-222]]
80. {www01} FEAST projects web site, Dept. of Computing, Imp. College, see http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~mml/feast]]
81. {zah97} S. Zahran, Software Process Improvement -- Practical Guidelines for Business Success, SEI Series in Software Engineering, Addison-Wesley, Harlow, England, 1997]]
82. {zur67} F. W. Zurcher and B. Randell, Iterative Multi-Level Modelling -- A Methodology for Computer System Design, IBM Res. Div. Rep. RC-1938, Nov. 1967. Also in Proc. IFIP Congress 1968, Edinburgh, Aug 5 - 10, 1968, pp D-138 - 142]]

• Computing methodologies

  • Machine learning

    • Learning paradigms

      • Supervised learning

• Social and professional topics

  • Professional topics

    • Management of computing and information systems

      • Software management