An approach to create, reuse and apply refactoring in the context of architecture driven modernization

Author(s)

Rafael Serapilha Durelli

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Carlos.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação (ICMC/SB)
• Defense date: 2016-04-12

Examining board members

Márcio Eduardo Delamaro; Rosana Teresinha Vaccare Braga; Uirá Kulesza; Daniel Lucredio; Sérgio Castelo Branco Soares

• Advisor: Márcio Eduardo Delamaro

Abstract

Architecture Driven Modernization (ADM) is an initiative of the Object Management Group (OMG) whose main purpose is to provide standard metamodels that enable the conduction of modernization activities as reverse engineering and software transformation. In this context, the most important metamodel is the Knowledge Discovery Metamodel (KDM), whose objective is to represent software artifacts in a language- and platform-agnostic fashion. A fundamental step during software modernization is refactoring. However, there is a lack of approaches that address how refactoring can be applied in conjunction with ADM. In addition, few efforts have investigated how refactorings can be reused and systematically applied within the context of KDM representations. We propose an approach for creating and cataloging refactorings tailored to KDM. Our approach is twofold: (i) the first part comprises steps that help the software modernization engineer create KDM-compliant refactorings; (ii) the second part has to do with turning these refactoring descriptions into Structured Refactoring Metamodel (SRM) and making them available to be reused. To automate these activities, we developed a tool that makes it possible to apply refactorings to Unified Modeling Language (UML) class diagrams. Our tool, named KDM-RE, comprises three Eclipse plug-ins, which can be briefly described as follows: (i) a set of Wizards aimed at supporting the software modernization engineer during refactoring activities; (ii) a change propagation module that keeps the internal metamodels synchronized; and (iii) a plug-in that supports the selection and reuse of the refactorings available in the repository. Moreover, we developed a domain specific language to minimize the effort required to instantiate SRMs. We carried out an evaluation that simulates how software modernization engineers would go about refactoring KDM instances. Our results would seem to suggest that our approach, when automated by our tool, provides several advantages to software modernization engineers refactoring systems represented by KDMs. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 12/05168-4 - An approach to restructuring systems based on pre-established quality requirements
• Grantee: Rafael Serapilha Durelli
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate