A metamodel to support the formalization of coding conventions

• Grant number: 18/11129-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: January 01, 2019
• End date: June 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Computer Science - Computing Methodologies and Techniques
• Principal Investigator: Leonardo Montecchi
• Grantee: Elder de Oliveira Rodrigues Júnior
• Host Institution: Instituto de Computação (IC). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 19/06799-7 - Formalization of coding conventions for safety-critical systems, BE.EP.MS

Abstract

Coding conventions are part of any structured software development process, and can be established for many reasons, ranging from improving readability of code to avoiding the introduction of security and safety flaws. Like many other artifacts in the development process, coding conventions come in the form of textual documents written in natural language, possibly with code examples. It has been argued that existing coding guidelines in current form offer limited benefit, due to the difficulty of actually being managed and enforced. This project will investigate the formalization of coding standards using Model-Driven Engineering techniques. After an initial analysis of related work, rules from existing coding standards will be analyzed and selected to be used as a reference in the definition of the language, and one for evaluating the approach. The main outcome of the project will be a metamodel (i.e., abstract syntax of a language) capable of describing such coding rules formally. The developed language will be evaluated by using it to formalize rules from existing coding conventions, with special focus on conventions for security and safety. The possibility to formalize coding standards will open up several benefits, e.g., industrial standards could include formal definitions of imposed coding rules, and tool developers could expose the set of rules that their tool is capable to check. Furthermore, a formal description of coding convention will enable further research on automated generation of checkers for such rules, and on the creation of graphical or textual representations of coding conventions, based on the language that will be defined in this project. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

RODRIGUES, ELDER, JR.; MONTECCHI, LEONARDO; IEEE. Towards a Structured Specification of Coding Conventions. 2019 IEEE 24TH PACIFIC RIM INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON DEPENDABLE COMPUTING (PRDC 2019), v. N/A, p. 10-pg., 2019-01-01. (18/11129-8)

RODRIGUES JR, ELDER; MONTECCHI, LEONARDO; CECCARELLI, ANDREA; VIEIRA, M; MADEIRA, H; ANTUNES, N; ZHENG, Z. Model-Driven Fault Injection in Java Source Code. 2020 IEEE 31ST INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON SOFTWARE RELIABILITY ENGINEERING (ISSRE 2020), v. N/A, p. 12-pg., 2020-01-01. (18/11129-8, 19/06799-7)

RODRIGUES JR, ELDER; PEREIRA, JOSE D'ABRUZZO; MONTECCHI, LEONARDO. A Model-Driven Approach for the Management and Enforcement of Coding Conventions. IEEE ACCESS, v. 11, p. 20-pg., 2023-01-01. (19/06799-7, 18/11129-8)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

RODRIGUES JÚNIOR, Elder de Oliveira. Um metamodelo para apoiar a formalização de convenções de codificação. 2020. Master's Dissertation - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Computação Campinas, SP.