Empirical Study on Component-Based Development Li Jingyue Ph.D Status Report SUG IDI/NTNU Ph.D Student Seminar 19 Nov. 2003

Agenda Motivation and Background Research Focus Research Design Status Activity Last 6 Months Activity Next 6 Months Ph.D Student Seminar 19 Nov. 2003

Background Reuse Component-base Development Components In-house Built COTS (Commercial-Off-The-Shelf) OSS (Open Source Component) Ph.D Student Seminar 19 Nov. 2003

Challenges in CBD Issues Roles Challenges Software Product Issues Component Provider Granularity Component integrator Component selection Architecture mismatch Functional deficiencies Quality maintenance Software development process issues Component providers Test practice Component integrators Requirement and capability trade-off Tools support Business issues Internationalization Responsible for quality Horizontal and vertical market Marketing Vendor relationships Component trust Trade-offs ROI analysis System maintenance and evolution Ph.D Student Seminar 19 Nov. 2003

Limitation of Current Research Although most of the previous studies are based on industrial case studies, the limitation is that the sample size is not huge enough. Some of the challenges are either too specific or too general. Some of the challenges are generated purely from theory viewpoints without empirical grounds. Most of the previous studies regard the different kinds of components (i.e., in-house built, COTS, OSS components) as the same. There is still no systematic research on the similarities and differences between them. So, there is no systematic guideline on how to make a reasonable selection between three of them. Most conclusions of the causes of these challenges comes from one or two case studies. The conclusions cannot be generalized to other industries. So, the solutions are always case by case. Ph.D Student Seminar 19 Nov. 2003

Research Focus What is the problems? Why did it happen? How to solve the problem? Ph.D Student Seminar 19 Nov. 2003

Research Design Stages Method Schedule Output What is the problem? Literature Review Structured Survey Spring 2003 to Spring 2004 survey result report Why did it happen? Structured Survey Case studies Spring 2004 to Fall 2004 case study report How to solve the problem? Simulation Fall 2004 to Spring 2005 solution and evaluation report Research Summary Writing Dissertation Fall 2005 to Spring 2006 Dissertation Ph.D Student Seminar 19 Nov. 2003

Status Paper Matrix Credit Plan Finished: A Study of Developer Attitude to Component Reuse in Three IT Companies Ongoing: Two papers based on the result of the COTS survey Credit Plan Course title Term DIF8914: Distributed Information System Fall 2002 Empirical Software Engineering Dif8901 Object Oriented System Spring 2003 SIF8056: Software Architecture DIS1056: Business Researcher Method, Case Methodology IT-emner Ph.D Student Seminar 19 Nov. 2003

Activity Last 6 Months Performed An Empirical Study of Developer Attitude to Component Reuse in Three IT Companies (Mogul, EDB, Ericsson) Designed a Questionnaire for the Survey on COTS Components in IT Industries (Two phases pre-test have been finished) Ph.D Student Seminar 19 Nov. 2003

Activity Next 6 Months Activities Method Schedule Continue the survey on COTS components in IT industry Personal interview or Telephone interview in 40 IT companies Dec. 2003 – Jan. 2004 Continue the survey on COTS components by Simula SESE tool in German and Italy Web Survey Feb. 2004 – Apr. 2004 Empirical study on Open Source Component in IT industry Personal interview in 6 – 7 IT companies June. 2004 Case study on COTS based development in IT industry Case study in 1 – 2 IT companies. Focus on COTS-based development in critical system or maintenance / evolution issues Feb. 2004 – June. 2004 Ph.D Student Seminar 19 Nov. 2003