The Virtual Software Production Laboratory(VPSL): an innovative approach to accelerate theory building in software engineering

这项研究的目标是通过补充和整合虚拟软件生产实验室(VSPL)现有的经验研究来加速软件工程的理论建设。VSPL由一组系统开发的可复用软件过程仿真模块组成，这些模块可以被组合和裁剪以运行面向目标的仿真实验。特别是，在探索技术替代方案时，经常需要涵盖不同影响因素的实验的多种变化可以很容易地通过模拟以受控的方式进行。因此，可以缩短学习周期，因为可以容易地产生不同的启动条件、外部影响或过程特征。VSPL的主要目的是针对已定义的产品质量目标，产生关于软件开发技术和工具的有效性的(广义)假设。根据收集到的(个别)经验证据，假设将通过组合蒙特卡罗和过程模拟对背景因素(即所有其他相关方法、工具和技术的集合，结合人员的能力和技能)进行系统变化来创建。模拟的结果将被汇总到有效性简档中，这些简档充当定义明确的假设，可以接受系统的经验测试。由于拟议的研究旨在提供概念验证，它将侧重于支持与有限类别的技术和工具相联系的理论构建，例如，侧重于需求工程和架构设计。

The objective of the proposed research is to accelerate theory building in software engineering by complementing and integrating current empirical research by a Virtual Software Production Laboratory (VSPL). A VSPL consists of a systematically developed set of reusable software process simulation modules which can be composed and tailored in order to run goal-oriented simulation experiments. In particular, the multitude of variations of an experiment, which is often necessary to cover different impact factors when exploring technology alternatives, can easily be performed in a controlled manner by simulation. Consequently, learning cycles can be shortened, as different starting conditions, external influences, or process characteristics can easily be generated. The main purpose of the VSPL is to produce (generalized) hypotheses about the effectiveness of software development techniques and tools with regards to defined product quality goals. Based upon the collected (individual) pieces of empirical evidence, hypotheses will be created by systematic variation of context factors (i.e., the set of all other relevant methods, tools and techniques in place, combined with people competencies and skills) through combined Monte-Carlo and process simulation. The results of the simulations will be aggregated into effectiveness profiles which serve as well-defined hypotheses that can be exposed to systematic empirical testing. Since the proposed research aims to deliver a proof-of-concept, it will focus on supporting theory building linked to a restricted class of techniques and tools, e.g., focusing on requirements engineering and architectural design.