Feature-Oriented Software Engineering

面向特征的软件工程

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-04219
• 负责人: Atlee, Joanne
• 金额: $ 2.99万
• 依托单位: University of Waterloo
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=739746
• 关键词: Feature; Oriented; Software; Engineering

A software system is often thought of in terms of its constituent features, where each feature is an optional or incremental unit of functionality (e.g., undo, word count, and track changes are features in word processing software). Software developers use features as a criterion for decomposing their work into tasks that can be performed incrementally, in parallel, or by third-party vendors. Feature-oriented software engineering enables incremental development and rapid evolution of software systems. The downside is that integrating seemingly orthogonal features can result in feature interactions where one feature unexpectedly affects the behaviour of another (e.g., conflicting actions, emergent behaviours, violated assumptions). Interactions are common problems in feature-rich software products. As a notable example: in both of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft crashes, a faulty input sensor led to multiple feature interactions in which the infamous MCAS feature overpowered other features related to the aircraft's pitch (including pilot-controlled features) and forced the aircraft into a nose dive. To be safe, software engineers need to manage how features behave when integrated together. This proposal investigates two avenues of research that address different aspects of the Feature Interaction Problem. The first focuses on establishing a precise system-wide analysis to detect feature interactions in large feature-rich software systems. Novel advancements will be analyses that (1) examine actual software rather than models or test results (2) are comprehensive in the types of interactions they detect, (3) scale to large software products, and (4) are adequately precise. The second research avenue pursues a more holistic approach to manage feature interactions, by means of a software architecture that the features plug into. The architecture coordinates and constrains how features can execute and communicate, thereby avoiding or resolving certain classes of interactions. An architectural solution to managing interactions has the potential of ensuring safe integration of features, thereby reducing the number of residual interactions that the engineer must detect and resolve. The result will be technologies and HQP trained in feature-oriented designs and analyses that realize the improvements in developer productivity and product quality that feature-oriented software engineering has always promised.

软件系统通常根据其组成特征来考虑，其中每个特征是可选的或增量的功能单元（例如，撤消、字数统计和跟踪改变是字处理软件中的特征）。软件开发人员使用特性作为标准，将他们的工作分解为可以增量执行、并行执行或由第三方供应商执行的任务。面向软件开发的软件工程使软件系统的增量开发和快速演化成为可能。缺点是集成看似正交的特征可能导致特征交互，其中一个特征意外地影响另一个特征的行为（例如，冲突行为、紧急行为、违反假设）。交互是功能丰富的软件产品中的常见问题。举一个显著的例子：在两起波音737 MAX飞机坠毁事件中，一个错误的输入传感器导致了多个功能的相互作用，其中臭名昭著的MCAS功能压倒了与飞机俯仰相关的其他功能（包括飞行员控制功能），并迫使飞机俯冲。为了安全起见，软件工程师需要管理功能在集成在一起时的行为。本建议调查两种途径的研究，解决不同方面的功能交互问题。第一个重点是建立一个精确的系统范围内的分析，以检测功能丰富的大型软件系统中的功能交互。新的进步将是分析，（1）检查实际软件，而不是模型或测试结果（2）在他们检测的交互类型中是全面的，（3）扩展到大型软件产品，（4）足够精确。第二种研究途径追求一种更全面的方法来管理功能交互，通过功能插入的软件架构。架构协调和约束功能如何执行和通信，从而避免或解决某些类别的交互。管理交互的架构解决方案有可能确保功能的安全集成，从而减少工程师必须检测和解决的剩余交互的数量。其结果将是技术和HQP在面向特征的设计和分析方面的培训，实现了面向特征的软件工程一直承诺的开发人员生产力和产品质量的提高。