Cross-Language Support Mechanisms Significantly Aid Software Development

Research output: Conference Article in Proceeding or Book/Report chapterArticle in proceedingsResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Contemporary software systems combine many artifacts specified in various modeling and programming languages, domainspecific and general purpose as well. Since multi-language systems are so widespread, working on them calls for tools with cross-language support mechanisms such as (1) visualization, (2) static checking, (3) navigation, and (4) refactoring of cross-language relations. We investigate whether these four mechanisms indeed improve efficiency and quality of development of multi-language systems. We run a controlled experiment in which 22 participants perform typical software evolution tasks on the JTrac web application using a prototype tool implementing these mechanisms. The results speak clearly for integration of cross-language support mechanisms into software development tools, and justify research on automatic inference, manipulation and handling of cross-language relations.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationModel Driven Engineering Languages and Systems : 15th International Conference, MODELS 2012, Innsbruck, Austria, September 30–October 5, 2012. Proceedings
Volume7590
PublisherSpringer
Publication date2012
Pages168-184
ISBN (Print)978-3-642-33665-2
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-642-33666-9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012

Keywords

  • Multi-language systems
  • Cross-language support
  • Software development tools
  • Code visualization
  • Static analysis
  • Software refactoring
  • Software evolution
  • Controlled experiment
  • Domain-specific languages
  • Program comprehension

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