Simulating Structural Design Evolution of Software

Software designers frequentlynd the need to refactor existing code to improve the structure of their design. Typical examples include the application of design patterns or splitting large modules into smaller ones. The problem lies in the difficulty in evaluating the effect of such restructuring before developers implement their newly proposed design ideas. Such experimental implementation can be expensive because it may include potential con icts or cause unnecessary source code branching to occur. It can be even more expensive if the designer needs to compare multiple design alternatives. In this paper, we propose to demonstrate the possibility of simulating structural design changes based on Baldwin and Clark´s modular operators. This simulation permits designers to explore the design space and validate ideas for software changes without having to implement them concretely.