Experience report on using object-oriented design for software maintenance
Abstract
We experimented with modifying the existing object-oriented (OO) design and C++ code of a software
reliability model. Our purpose was to assess the efficacy of OO methods for performing maintenance on
mathematical software, using a real-world system (NASA Space Shuttle flight software) to illustrate the
approach. In this process, we used variants of UML diagrams to modify our design.We found that although
a top-down approach to software maintenance is normally a good idea, it was still necessary to modify
the design once the realities of what could be accomplished in the C++ code came to light. As reliability
and maintenance are intimately related, we developed reliability risk analysis to show how maintenance
changes to our design and code could be used to measure risk. Another maintenance enhancement to the
design and code is the use of reliability parameter analysis to assess, in the advance of prediction, the
reliability of a set of software releases. We believe this is the first evaluation of software maintenance using
OO methods.
Description
The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/smr
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.Collections
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