Kĩ thuật lập trình - Chapter 9: Software evolution

Chapter 9 – Software EvolutionLecture 11Chapter 9 Software evolutionTopics coveredEvolution processesChange processes for software systems Program evolution dynamicsUnderstanding software evolutionSoftware maintenanceMaking changes to operational software systemsLegacy system managementMaking decisions about software change 2Chapter 9 Software evolutionSoftware changeSoftware change is inevitableNew requirements emerge when the software is used;The business environment changes;Errors must be repaired;New computers and equipment is added to the system;The performance or reliability of the system may have to be improved.A key problem for all organizations is implementing and managing change to their existing software systems.3Chapter 9 Software evolutionImportance of evolutionOrganisations have huge investments in their software systems - they are critical business assets.To maintain the value of these assets to the business, they must be changed and updated.The majority of the software budget in large companies is devoted to changing and evolving existing software rather than developing new software.4Chapter 9 Software evolutionA spiral model of development and evolution 5Chapter 9 Software evolutionEvolution and servicing 6Chapter 9 Software evolutionEvolution and servicingEvolutionThe stage in a software system’s life cycle where it is in operational use and is evolving as new requirements are proposed and implemented in the system.ServicingAt this stage, the software remains useful but the only changes made are those required to keep it operational i.e. bug fixes and changes to reflect changes in the software’s environment. No new functionality is added.Phase-outThe software may still be used but no further changes are made to it.7Chapter 9 Software evolutionEvolution processesSoftware evolution processes depend onThe type of software being maintained;The development processes used;The skills and experience of the people involved.Proposals for change are the driver for system evolution.Should be linked with components that are affected by the change, thus allowing the cost and impact of the change to be estimated.Change identification and evolution continues throughout the system lifetime.8Chapter 9 Software evolutionChange identification and evolution processes 9Chapter 9 Software evolutionThe software evolution process 10Chapter 9 Software evolutionChange implementation 11Chapter 9 Software evolutionChange implementationIteration of the development process where the revisions to the system are designed, implemented and tested.A critical difference is that the first stage of change implementation may involve program understanding, especially if the original system developers are not responsible for the change implementation. During the program understanding phase, you have to understand how the program is structured, how it delivers functionality and how the proposed change might affect the program. 12Chapter 9 Software evolutionUrgent change requestsUrgent changes may have to be implemented without going through all stages of the software engineering processIf a serious system fault has to be repaired to allow normal operation to continue;If changes to the system’s environment (e.g. an OS upgrade) have unexpected effects;If there are business changes that require a very rapid response (e.g. the release of a competing product).13Chapter 9 Software evolutionThe emergency repair process14Chapter 9 Software evolutionAgile methods and evolutionAgile methods are based on incremental development so the transition from development to evolution is a seamless one.Evolution is simply a continuation of the development process based on frequent system releases.Automated regression testing is particularly valuable when changes are made to a system.Changes may be expressed as additional user stories.15Chapter 9 Software evolutionHandover problemsWhere the development team have used an agile approach but the evolution team is unfamiliar with agile methods and prefer a plan-based approach. The evolution team may expect detailed documentation to support evolution and this is not produced in agile processes. Where a plan-based approach has been used for development but the evolution team prefer to use agile methods. The evolution team may have to start from scratch developing automated tests and the code in the system may not have been refactored and simplified as is expected in agile development. 16Chapter 9 Software evolutionProgram evolution dynamics is the study of the processes of system change.After several major empirical studies, Lehman and Belady proposed that there were a number of ‘laws’ which applied to all systems as they evolved.There are sensible observations rather than laws. They are applicable to large systems developed by large organisations. It is not clear if these are applicable to other types of software system.Program evolution dynamics17Chapter 9 Software evolutionThe system requirements are likely to change while the system is being developed because the environment is changing. Therefore a delivered system won't meet its requirements!Systems are tightly coupled with their environment. When a system is installed in an environment it changes that environment and therefore changes the system requirements.Systems MUST be changed if they are to remain useful in an environment.Change is inevitable18Chapter 9 Software evolutionLehman’s laws LawDescriptionContinuing changeA program that is used in a real-world environment must necessarily change, or else become progressively less useful in that environment.Increasing complexityAs an evolving program changes, its structure tends to become more complex. Extra resources must be devoted to preserving and simplifying the structure.Large program evolutionProgram evolution is a self-regulating process. System attributes such as size, time between releases, and the number of reported errors is approximately invariant for each system release.Organizational stabilityOver a program’s lifetime, its rate of development is approximately constant and independent of the resources devoted to system development.19Chapter 9 Software evolutionLehman’s lawsLawDescriptionConservation of familiarityOver the lifetime of a system, the incremental change in each release is approximately constant.Continuing growthThe functionality offered by systems has to continually increase to maintain user satisfaction.Declining qualityThe quality of systems will decline unless they are modified to reflect changes in their operational environment.Feedback systemEvolution processes incorporate multiagent, multiloop feedback systems and you have to treat them as feedback systems to achieve significant product improvement.20Chapter 9 Software evolutionApplicability of Lehman’s lawsLehman’s laws seem to be generally applicable to large, tailored systems developed by large organisations.Confirmed in early 2000’s by work by Lehman on the FEAST project.It is not clear how they should be modified forShrink-wrapped software products;Systems that incorporate a significant number of COTS components;Small organisations;Medium sized systems.21Chapter 9 Software evolutionKey pointsSoftware development and evolution can be thought of as an integrated, iterative process that can be represented using a spiral model.For custom systems, the costs of software maintenance usually exceed the software development costs.The process of software evolution is driven by requests for changes and includes change impact analysis, release planning and change implementation. Lehman’s laws, such as the notion that change is continuous, describe a number of insights derived from long-term studies of system evolution.22Chapter 9 Software evolutionChapter 9 – Software EvolutionLecture 223Chapter 9 Software evolutionModifying a program after it has been put into use.The term is mostly used for changing custom software. Generic software products are said to evolve to create new versions.Maintenance does not normally involve major changes to the system’s architecture.Changes are implemented by modifying existing components and adding new components to the system.Software maintenance24Chapter 9 Software evolutionMaintenance to repair software faultsChanging a system to correct deficiencies in the way meets its requirements.Maintenance to adapt software to a different operating environmentChanging a system so that it operates in a different environment (computer, OS, etc.) from its initial implementation.Maintenance to add to or modify the system’s functionalityModifying the system to satisfy new requirements.Types of maintenance25Chapter 9 Software evolutionFigure 9.8 Maintenance effort distribution 26Chapter 9 Software evolutionUsually greater than development costs (2* to 100* depending on the application).Affected by both technical and non-technical factors.Increases as software is maintained. Maintenance corrupts the software structure so makes further maintenance more difficult.Ageing software can have high support costs (e.g. old languages, compilers etc.).Maintenance costs27Chapter 9 Software evolutionFigure 9.9 Development and maintenance costs 28Chapter 9 Software evolutionTeam stabilityMaintenance costs are reduced if the same staff are involved with them for some time.Contractual responsibilityThe developers of a system may have no contractual responsibility for maintenance so there is no incentive to design for future change.Staff skillsMaintenance staff are often inexperienced and have limited domain knowledge.Program age and structureAs programs age, their structure is degraded and they become harder to understand and change.Maintenance cost factors29Chapter 9 Software evolutionMaintenance predictionMaintenance prediction is concerned with assessing which parts of the system may cause problems and have high maintenance costsChange acceptance depends on the maintainability of the components affected by the change;Implementing changes degrades the system and reduces its maintainability;Maintenance costs depend on the number of changes and costs of change depend on maintainability.30Chapter 9 Software evolutionMaintenance prediction 31Chapter 9 Software evolutionChange predictionPredicting the number of changes requires and understanding of the relationships between a system and its environment.Tightly coupled systems require changes whenever the environment is changed.Factors influencing this relationship areNumber and complexity of system interfaces;Number of inherently volatile system requirements;The business processes where the system is used.32Chapter 9 Software evolutionComplexity metricsPredictions of maintainability can be made by assessing the complexity of system components.Studies have shown that most maintenance effort is spent on a relatively small number of system components.Complexity depends onComplexity of control structures;Complexity of data structures;Object, method (procedure) and module size.33Chapter 9 Software evolutionProcess metricsProcess metrics may be used to assess maintainabilityNumber of requests for corrective maintenance;Average time required for impact analysis;Average time taken to implement a change request;Number of outstanding change requests.If any or all of these is increasing, this may indicate a decline in maintainability.34Chapter 9 Software evolutionSystem re-engineeringRe-structuring or re-writing part or all of a legacy system without changing its functionality.Applicable where some but not all sub-systems of a larger system require frequent maintenance.Re-engineering involves adding effort to make them easier to maintain. The system may be re-structured and re-documented.35Chapter 9 Software evolutionAdvantages of reengineeringReduced riskThere is a high risk in new software development. There may be development problems, staffing problems and specification problems.Reduced costThe cost of re-engineering is often significantly less than the costs of developing new software.36Chapter 9 Software evolutionThe reengineering process 37Chapter 9 Software evolutionReengineering process activitiesSource code translationConvert code to a new language.Reverse engineeringAnalyse the program to understand it;Program structure improvementRestructure automatically for understandability;Program modularisationReorganise the program structure;Data reengineeringClean-up and restructure system data.38Chapter 9 Software evolutionFigure 9.12 Reengineering approaches 39Chapter 9 Software evolutionReengineering cost factorsThe quality of the software to be reengineered.The tool support available for reengineering.The extent of the data conversion which is required.The availability of expert staff for reengineering. This can be a problem with old systems based on technology that is no longer widely used.40Chapter 9 Software evolutionPreventative maintenance by refactoringRefactoring is the process of making improvements to a program to slow down degradation through change.You can think of refactoring as ‘preventative maintenance’ that reduces the problems of future change. Refactoring involves modifying a program to improve its structure, reduce its complexity or make it easier to understand. When you refactor a program, you should not add functionality but rather concentrate on program improvement. 41Chapter 9 Software evolutionRefactoring and reengineeringRe-engineering takes place after a system has been maintained for some time and maintenance costs are increasing. You use automated tools to process and re-engineer a legacy system to create a new system that is more maintainable. Refactoring is a continuous process of improvement throughout the development and evolution process. It is intended to avoid the structure and code degradation that increases the costs and difficulties of maintaining a system. 42Chapter 9 Software evolution‘Bad smells’ in program codeDuplicate code The same or very similar code may be included at different places in a program. This can be removed and implemented as a single method or function that is called as required.Long methods If a method is too long, it should be redesigned as a number of shorter methods.Switch (case) statements These often involve duplication, where the switch depends on the type of a value. The switch statements may be scattered around a program. In object-oriented languages, you can often use polymorphism to achieve the same thing.43Chapter 9 Software evolution‘Bad smells’ in program codeData clumping Data clumps occur when the same group of data items (fields in classes, parameters in methods) re-occur in several places in a program. These can often be replaced with an object that encapsulates all of the data.Speculative generality This occurs when developers include generality in a program in case it is required in the future. This can often simply be removed. 44Chapter 9 Software evolutionLegacy system managementOrganisations that rely on legacy systems must choose a strategy for evolving these systemsScrap the system completely and modify business processes so that it is no longer required;Continue maintaining the system;Transform the system by re-engineering to improve its maintainability;Replace the system with a new system.The strategy chosen should depend on the system quality and its business value.45Chapter 9 Software evolutionFigure 9.13 An example of a legacy system assessment 46Chapter 9 Software evolutionLegacy system categoriesLow quality, low business valueThese systems should be scrapped. Low-quality, high-business valueThese make an important business contribution but are expensive to maintain. Should be re-engineered or replaced if a suitable system is available.High-quality, low-business valueReplace with COTS, scrap completely or maintain.High-quality, high business valueContinue in operation using normal system maintenance.47Chapter 9 Software evolutionBusiness value assessmentAssessment should take different viewpoints into accountSystem end-users;Business customers;Line managers;IT managers;Senior managers.Interview different stakeholders and collate results.48Chapter 9 Software evolutionIssues in business value assessmentThe use of the system If systems are only used occasionally or by a small number of people, they may have a low business value. The business processes that are supported A system may have a low business value if it forces the use of inefficient business processes. System dependability If a system is not dependable and the problems directly affect business customers, the system has a low business value.The system outputs If the business depends on system outputs, then the system has a high business value. 49Chapter 9 Software evolutionSystem quality assessmentBusiness process assessmentHow well does the business process support the current goals of the business?Environment assessmentHow effective is the system’s environment and how expensive is it to maintain?Application assessmentWhat is the quality of the application software system?50Chapter 9 Software evolutionBusiness process assessmentUse a viewpoint-oriented approach and seek answers from system stakeholdersIs there a defined process model and is it followed?Do different parts of the organisation use different processes for the same function?How has the process been adapted?What are the relationships with other business processes and are these necessary?Is the process effectively supported by the legacy application software?Example - a travel ordering system may have a low business value because of the widespread use of web-based ordering.51Chapter 9 Software evolutionFactors used in environment assessment FactorQuestionsSupplier stabilityIs the supplier still in existence? Is the supplier financially stable and likely to continue in existence? If the supplier is no longer in business, does someone else maintain the systems? Failure rateDoes the hardware have a high rate of reported failures? Does the support software crash and force system restarts? AgeHow old is the hardware and software? The older the hardware and support software, the more obsolete it will be. It may still function correctly but there could be significant economic and business benefits to moving to a more modern system.PerformanceIs the performance of the system adequate? Do performance problems have a significant effect on system users?52Chapter 9 Software evolutionFactors used in environment assessmentFactorQuestionsSupport requirementsWhat local support is required by the hardware and software? If there are high costs associated with this support, it may be worth considering system replacement.Maintenance costsWhat are the costs of hardware maintenance and support software licences? Older hardware may have higher maintenance costs than modern systems. Support software may have high annual licensing costs.InteroperabilityAre there problems interfacing the system to other systems? Can compilers, for example, be used with current versions of the operating system? Is hardware emulation required?53Chapter 9 Software evolutionFactors used in application assessment FactorQuestionsUnderstandabilityHow difficult is it to understand the source code of the current system? How complex are the control structures that are used? Do variables have meaningful names that reflect their function?DocumentationWhat system documentation is available? Is the documentation complete, consistent, and current?DataIs there an explicit data model for the system? To what extent is data duplicated across files? Is the data used by the system up to date and consistent?PerformanceIs the performance of the application adequate? Do performance problems have a significant effect on system users?54Chapter 9 Software evolutionFactors used in application assessmentFactorQuestionsProgramming languageAre modern compilers available for the programming language used to develop the system? Is the programming language still used for new system development?Configuration managementAre all versions of all parts of the system managed by a configuration management system? Is there an explicit description of the versions of components that are used in the current system?Test dataDoes test data for the system exist? Is there a record of regression tests carried out when new features have been added to the system? Personnel skillsAre there people available who have the skills to maintain the application? Are there people available who have experience with the system? 55Chapter 9 Software evolutionSystem measurementYou may collect quantitative data to make an assessment of the quality of the application systemThe number of system change requests; The number of different user interfaces used by the system;The volume of data used by the system.56Chapter 9 Software evolutionKey pointsThere are 3 types of software maintenance, namely bug fixing, modifying software to work in a new environment, and implementing new or changed requirements.Software re-engineering is concerned with re-structuring and re-documenting software to make it easier to understand and change. Refactoring, making program changes that preserve functionality, is a form of preventative maintenance.The business value of a legacy system and the quality of the application should be assessed to help decide if a system should be replaced, transformed or maintained. 57Chapter 9 Software evolution