Title :
A method to re-organize legacy systems via concept analysis
Author :
Antoniol, G. ; Casazza, G. ; Penta, M. Di ; Merlo, E.
Author_Institution :
Fac. of Eng., Sannio Univ., Benevento, Italy
Abstract :
Proposes a method to restructure the organization of architectural source code files. The method exploits concept analysis and is based on the extraction of compiling, linking and inclusion dependencies. The method was applied to public-domain and freely-available software systems developed with the C programming language. The results presented and discussed in this paper are encouraging: the method was always able to identify, for each executable (i.e. main module), all the other modules required to successfully compile a working system. Moreover, the candidate libraries retrieved by the method almost always match those created by developers. Finally, the directory organization was judged to be very effective, even if it was different from the original one
Keywords :
file organisation; program compilers; public domain software; reverse engineering; software architecture; subroutines; C programming language; architectural source code file organization restructuring; candidate libraries; compiling dependencies; concept analysis; dependency removals; directory organization; executables; freely-available software systems; inclusion dependencies; legacy systems reorganization; linking dependencies; program understanding; public-domain software systems; required modules identification; Aging; Computer architecture; Computer languages; Documentation; Hardware; Joining processes; Software architecture; Software libraries; Software maintenance; Software systems;
Conference_Titel :
Program Comprehension, 2001. IWPC 2001. Proceedings. 9th International Workshop on
Conference_Location :
Toronto, Ont.
Print_ISBN :
0-7695-1131-7
DOI :
10.1109/WPC.2001.921738