Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
skip to main content
10.1145/1141277.1141686acmconferencesArticle/Chapter ViewAbstractPublication PagessacConference Proceedingsconference-collections
Article

Does object coupling really affect the understanding and modifying of OCL expressions?

Published: 23 April 2006 Publication History

Abstract

Early and precise models started to play an increasingly relevant role since models themselves become the primary focus in recent initiatives of Model-Driven Engineering (such as Model-Driven Development and Model-Driven Architecture). However, a precise model cannot be obtained through the use of Unified Modeling Language (UML), due to the limited expressiveness of diagram-based UML notation. A textual add-on to the UML diagrams is needed, such as the Object Constraint Language (OCL), for reaching complete and consistent models and avoiding underspecification. Aware of the proliferation of measures for UML-based models and the lack of measures to capture the quality aspects of UML/OCL combined models we defined a set of measures for measuring the structural properties of OCL expressions. This paper carefully describes an experiment we have conducted to confirm the conclusions and strengthen the external validity of a previous family of experiments, with the purpose of investigating the relationship between object coupling in OCL expressions and the understandability and modifiability of OCL expressions. Empirical evidence that such a relationship exists is reaffirmed and consolidated.

References

[1]
Atkinson, C., Kühne, T.: Model-Driven Development. A Metamodeling Foundation, IEEE Software, 20(5), 2003, pp. 36--41.
[2]
Basili, V. R., Rombach, H. D. The TAME project: towards improvement-oriented software environments. IEEE Trans. on Softw. Eng. Vol. 14 No. 6, 1998, pp. 758--773.
[3]
Briand, L. C., Bunse, L. C., Daly, J. W. A Controlled Experiment for evaluating Quality Guidelines on the Maintainability of Object-Oriented Designs. IEEE Trans. on Softw. Eng., Vol. 27 No. 6, 2001, pp. 513--530.
[4]
Briand, L. C., Labiche, Y., Yan, H. D., Di Penta, M. A controlled Experiment on the Impact of the OCL in UML-based Maintenance. IEEE Int. Conference on Softw. Maintenance, 2004.
[5]
Calero, C., Piattini, M., Genero, M. Method for Obtaining Correct Metrics. In Proc. of the 3rd Int. Conference on Enterprise and Information Systems (ICEIS'2001), 2001, pp. 779--784.
[6]
Cook, S., Kleepe, A., Mitchell, R., Rumpe, B., Warmer, J., Wills, A. The Amsterdam Manifiesto on OCL. Advances in Object Modelling with the OCL, Springer, Berlin, LNCS 2263, 2001, pp. 115--149.
[7]
El-Eman, K. Object-Oriented Metrics: A Review of Theory and Practice. National Research Council Canada. Institute for Information Technology. 2001.
[8]
Fenton, N. E., Pfleeger, S. L. Software Metrics: A Rigorous and Practical Approach. Chap-man & Hall, London, 2nd Edition. International Thomson Publishing Inc. 1997.
[9]
Giese, M., Heldal, R. From Informal to Formal Specification in UML. UML 2004, LNCS 3273, pp. 197--211, 2004.
[10]
ISO/IEC 9126. Software Product Evaluation-Quality Characteristics and Guidelines for their Use. Geneva.
[11]
Kitchenham, B., Pflegger, S., Fenton, N. Towards a Framework for Software Measurement Validation. IEEE Trans. of Softw. Eng., Vol. 21 No. 12, 1995, pp. 929--944.
[12]
Object Management Group. UML 2.0 OCL 2nd revised submission. OMG Document. Available at http://www.omg.org
[13]
Object Management Group. UML Specification Version 1.5, OMG Document. Available at http://www.omg.org
[14]
Object Management Group. MDA The OMG Model Driven Architecture. Available: http://www.omg.org./mda/, 2002.
[15]
Reynoso, L., Genero, M., Piattini, M. Validating OCL metrics through a Family of Experiments. Jornadas de Ingeniería del Sofware y Base de Datos. 2004.
[16]
Reynoso, L., Genero, M., Piattini, M. Assessing the impact of coupling on the understandability and modifiability of OCL expressions within UML/OCL combined models. Metrics 2005.
[17]
Reynoso, L., Genero, M., Piattini, M. Measuring OCL Expressions: An approach based on Cognitive Techniques. In Metrics for Conceptual Models. Imperial College Press, UK. 2005.
[18]
Schneidewind, N. F. Methodology for Validating Software Metrics. IEEE Trans. of Softw. Eng., Vol. 18 No. 5, 1992, pp. 410--422.
[19]
Selic, B. The Pragmatics of Model-Driven Development. IEEE Software. Vol. 20, No. 5, 2003, pp 19--25.
[20]
SPSS, 2002 SPSS 11.5. Syntax Reference Guide. Chicago. SPSS Inc. 2002.
[21]
Vinter, R., Loomes, M., Kornbrot R. Applying Software Metrics to Formal Specifications: A Cognitive Approach. 5th. Int. Symposium on Softw. Metrics. March 20 - 21, 1998. pp 216--223. Bethesda, Maryland
[22]
Warmer, J., Kleppe, A. The Object Constraint Language. Second Edition. Getting Your Models Ready for MDA. Addison-Wesley, Massachusetts, 2003.
[23]
Wohlin, C., Runeson, P., Höst, M., Ohlson, M., Regnell, B., Wesslén, A. Experimentation in Softw. Eng.: An Introduction, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000.

Cited By

View all
  • (2019)Empowering OCL researchEmpirical Software Engineering10.1007/s10664-018-9641-624:3(1574-1609)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2019
  • (2017)A data set of OCL expressions on GitHubProceedings of the 14th International Conference on Mining Software Repositories10.1109/MSR.2017.52(531-534)Online publication date: 20-May-2017
  • (2011)Empirical evidence about the UML: a systematic literature reviewSoftware—Practice & Experience10.1002/spe.100941:4(363-392)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2011
  • Show More Cited By

Index Terms

  1. Does object coupling really affect the understanding and modifying of OCL expressions?

    Recommendations

    Comments

    Information & Contributors

    Information

    Published In

    cover image ACM Conferences
    SAC '06: Proceedings of the 2006 ACM symposium on Applied computing
    April 2006
    1967 pages
    ISBN:1595931082
    DOI:10.1145/1141277
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

    Sponsors

    Publisher

    Association for Computing Machinery

    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    Published: 23 April 2006

    Permissions

    Request permissions for this article.

    Check for updates

    Author Tags

    1. OCL expressions
    2. UML/OCL models
    3. controlled experiments
    4. coupling
    5. empirical validation
    6. modifiability
    7. object-oriented measures
    8. structural properties
    9. understandability

    Qualifiers

    • Article

    Conference

    SAC06
    Sponsor:

    Acceptance Rates

    Overall Acceptance Rate 1,650 of 6,669 submissions, 25%

    Contributors

    Other Metrics

    Bibliometrics & Citations

    Bibliometrics

    Article Metrics

    • Downloads (Last 12 months)0
    • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)0
    Reflects downloads up to 07 Nov 2024

    Other Metrics

    Citations

    Cited By

    View all
    • (2019)Empowering OCL researchEmpirical Software Engineering10.1007/s10664-018-9641-624:3(1574-1609)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2019
    • (2017)A data set of OCL expressions on GitHubProceedings of the 14th International Conference on Mining Software Repositories10.1109/MSR.2017.52(531-534)Online publication date: 20-May-2017
    • (2011)Empirical evidence about the UML: a systematic literature reviewSoftware—Practice & Experience10.1002/spe.100941:4(363-392)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2011
    • (2010)Assessing the influence of import-coupling on OCL expression maintainabilityInformation Sciences: an International Journal10.1016/j.ins.2010.06.028180:20(3837-3862)Online publication date: 1-Oct-2010

    View Options

    Get Access

    Login options

    View options

    PDF

    View or Download as a PDF file.

    PDF

    eReader

    View online with eReader.

    eReader

    Media

    Figures

    Other

    Tables

    Share

    Share

    Share this Publication link

    Share on social media