Modelling and Analysis of Feature-Oriented Software

软件系统的规模和复杂性都在增长。大规模系统的“规模”不再简单地指大型代码库，还指极端的可变性，以特性为特征。功能在软件产品线中是特别相关的，在这些产品线中，一系列相关的软件产品（例如，智能手机，汽车软件）共享一组通用的强制性功能，并且产品通过它们的变量（可选或可选）来区分。当从一系列特性中得到一个产品时，软件开发人员必须考虑这些特性是如何相互作用的。有些互动是有计划的，有些是无害的，有些则是有害的。例如，2010款丰田普锐斯（Toyota Prius）的刹车功能软件控制器交互不良，降低了驾驶员的刹车能力，导致62起撞车事故和12人受伤。为了安全起见，软件开发人员分析所有可能的功能交互的结果，以便找到并修复不良交互。特征交互问题是要考虑的交互的数量是特征数量的指数。结果，软件团队发现他们开发新特性的工作被检测、分析和验证交互的任务所主导。第二个问题是软件开发人员没有意识到面向功能的开发的全部潜力，因为验证通常是在派生产品上执行的，并且验证所有可能的产品的成本太高。相反，只有一小部分产品是衍生、验证并提供给客户的。****提出的研究旨在使开发人员能够“提前预测”源自功能的软件产品的效果和质量。为此，项目活动集中于(1)特征模块化和粒度的基本问题，(2)协调特征以使其正确交互的特征组合算子，以及(3)探索特征集有效配置的分析工具。所建议的工作的预期结果对于从特性集派生出高质量的软件产品至关重要。****************************

Software systems are growing in size and complexity. The "scale" of large-scale systems no longer refers simply to large codebases but also to extreme variability, as characterized by features. Features are particularly relevant in software product lines, in which a family of related software products (e.g., smart phones, automotive software) shares a common set of mandatory features and products are differentiated by their variable (optional or alternative). When deriving a product from a selection of features, software developers must consider how the features interact. Some interactions are planned, some are innocuous, and others are harmful. For example, the software controllers for the braking features on the 2010 Toyota Prius interacted badly, reducing drivers' ability to brake and leading to 62 reported crashes and 12 injuries. To be safe, software developers analyze the consequences of all possible feature interactions, in order to find and fix the bad interactions. The Feature Interaction Problem is that the number of interactions to consider is exponential in the number of features. As a result, a software team finds that its work in developing new features is dominated by the tasks to detect, analyze, and verify interactions. A second problem is that software developers do not realize the full potential of feature-oriented development because verification is typically performed on derived products and it is too costly to verify all of the possible products. Instead, a small fraction of products are derived, verified and offered to customers.****The proposed research aims to enable developers to *predict in advance* the effects and quality of software products that are derived from features. To that end, the project activities focus on (1) fundamental problems in feature modularity and granularity, (2) feature-composition operators that coordinate features so that they interact properly, and (3) analysis tools for exploring valid configurations of feature sets. The expected outcomes of the proposed work are vital in deriving higher-quality software products from feature sets.****************************