Experiences from Designing and Validating a Software Modernization Transformation

Alexandru Florin Iosif-Lazăr; Ahmad Salim Al-Sibahi; Aleksandar Dimovski; Juha Erik Savolainen; Krzysztof Sierszecki; Andrzej Wasowski

doi:10.1109/ASE.2015.84

Experiences from Designing and Validating a Software Modernization Transformation

Alexandru Florin Iosif-Lazăr, Ahmad Salim Al-Sibahi, Aleksandar Dimovski, Juha Erik Savolainen, Krzysztof Sierszecki, Andrzej Wasowski

Computer Science

Research output: Conference Article in Proceeding or Book/Report chapter › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

Abstract

Software modernization often involves complex code transformations that convert legacy code to new architectures or platforms, while preserving the semantics of the original programs. We present the lessons learnt from an industrial software modernization project of considerable size. This includes collecting requirements for a code-to-model transformation, designing and implementing the transformation algorithm, and then validating correctness of this transformation for the code-base at hand. Our transformation is implemented in the TXL rewriting language and assumes specifically structured C++ code as input, which it translates to a declarative configuration model. The correctness criterion for the transformation is that the produced model admits the same configurations as the input code. The transformation converts C++ functions specifying around a thousand configuration parameters. We verify the correctness for each run individually, using translation validation and symbolic execution. The technique is formally specified and is applicable automatically for most of the code-base.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 30th ACM/IEEE international conference on Automated software engineering
Publisher	IEEE
Publication date	Nov 2015
Pages	597 - 607
ISBN (Print)	978-1-5090-0024-1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/ASE.2015.84
Publication status	Published - Nov 2015
Event	30th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering - Embassy Suites Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, United States Duration: 9 Nov 2015 → 13 Nov 2015 Conference number: 30 http://ase2015.unl.edu/#tab-main

Conference

Conference	30th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering
Number	30
Location	Embassy Suites Lincoln
Country/Territory	United States
City	Lincoln, Nebraska
Period	09/11/2015 → 13/11/2015
Internet address	http://ase2015.unl.edu/#tab-main

Keywords

Software modernization
Code transformation
Legacy code
TXL rewriting
Symbolic execution

Access to Document

10.1109/ASE.2015.84

Cite this

@inproceedings{01576122848a409cb6b6741c086e8d2e,

title = "Experiences from Designing and Validating a Software Modernization Transformation",

abstract = "Software modernization often involves complex code transformations that convert legacy code to new architectures or platforms, while preserving the semantics of the original programs. We present the lessons learnt from an industrial software modernization project of considerable size. This includes collecting requirements for a code-to-model transformation, designing and implementing the transformation algorithm, and then validating correctness of this transformation for the code-base at hand. Our transformation is implemented in the TXL rewriting language and assumes specifically structured C++ code as input, which it translates to a declarative configuration model. The correctness criterion for the transformation is that the produced model admits the same configurations as the input code. The transformation converts C++ functions specifying around a thousand configuration parameters. We verify the correctness for each run individually, using translation validation and symbolic execution. The technique is formally specified and is applicable automatically for most of the code-base.",

keywords = "Software modernization, Code transformation, Legacy code, TXL rewriting, Symbolic execution",

author = "Iosif-Laz{\u a}r, {Alexandru Florin} and Al-Sibahi, {Ahmad Salim} and Aleksandar Dimovski and Savolainen, {Juha Erik} and Krzysztof Sierszecki and Andrzej Wasowski",

year = "2015",

month = nov,

doi = "10.1109/ASE.2015.84",

language = "English",

isbn = "978-1-5090-0024-1",

pages = "597 -- 607",

booktitle = "Proceedings of the 30th ACM/IEEE international conference on Automated software engineering",

publisher = "IEEE",

address = "United States",

note = "30th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering, ASE 2015 ; Conference date: 09-11-2015 Through 13-11-2015",

url = "http://ase2015.unl.edu/#tab-main",

}

Iosif-Lazăr, AF, Al-Sibahi, AS, Dimovski, A, Savolainen, JE, Sierszecki, K & Wasowski, A 2015, Experiences from Designing and Validating a Software Modernization Transformation. in Proceedings of the 30th ACM/IEEE international conference on Automated software engineering. IEEE, pp. 597 - 607, 30th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering, Lincoln, Nebraska, United States, 09/11/2015. https://doi.org/10.1109/ASE.2015.84

Experiences from Designing and Validating a Software Modernization Transformation. / Iosif-Lazăr, Alexandru Florin; Al-Sibahi, Ahmad Salim; Dimovski, Aleksandar et al.
Proceedings of the 30th ACM/IEEE international conference on Automated software engineering. IEEE, 2015. p. 597 - 607.

Research output: Conference Article in Proceeding or Book/Report chapter › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Experiences from Designing and Validating a Software Modernization Transformation

AU - Iosif-Lazăr, Alexandru Florin

AU - Al-Sibahi, Ahmad Salim

AU - Dimovski, Aleksandar

AU - Savolainen, Juha Erik

AU - Sierszecki, Krzysztof

AU - Wasowski, Andrzej

N1 - Conference code: 30

PY - 2015/11

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N2 - Software modernization often involves complex code transformations that convert legacy code to new architectures or platforms, while preserving the semantics of the original programs. We present the lessons learnt from an industrial software modernization project of considerable size. This includes collecting requirements for a code-to-model transformation, designing and implementing the transformation algorithm, and then validating correctness of this transformation for the code-base at hand. Our transformation is implemented in the TXL rewriting language and assumes specifically structured C++ code as input, which it translates to a declarative configuration model. The correctness criterion for the transformation is that the produced model admits the same configurations as the input code. The transformation converts C++ functions specifying around a thousand configuration parameters. We verify the correctness for each run individually, using translation validation and symbolic execution. The technique is formally specified and is applicable automatically for most of the code-base.

AB - Software modernization often involves complex code transformations that convert legacy code to new architectures or platforms, while preserving the semantics of the original programs. We present the lessons learnt from an industrial software modernization project of considerable size. This includes collecting requirements for a code-to-model transformation, designing and implementing the transformation algorithm, and then validating correctness of this transformation for the code-base at hand. Our transformation is implemented in the TXL rewriting language and assumes specifically structured C++ code as input, which it translates to a declarative configuration model. The correctness criterion for the transformation is that the produced model admits the same configurations as the input code. The transformation converts C++ functions specifying around a thousand configuration parameters. We verify the correctness for each run individually, using translation validation and symbolic execution. The technique is formally specified and is applicable automatically for most of the code-base.

KW - Software modernization

KW - Code transformation

KW - Legacy code

KW - TXL rewriting

KW - Symbolic execution

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M3 - Article in proceedings

SN - 978-1-5090-0024-1

SP - 597

EP - 607

BT - Proceedings of the 30th ACM/IEEE international conference on Automated software engineering

PB - IEEE

T2 - 30th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering

Y2 - 9 November 2015 through 13 November 2015

ER -

Experiences from Designing and Validating a Software Modernization Transformation

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

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