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Abstract: Evolvability of software lies in intersection of 3 factors: evolving system properties, human factors present in the developer team, and evolution demands. The paper presents 5 recommendations that enhance software evolvability: defined processes of software change, distinction between evolving and stabilized part of the code, analyzable code segments, significant concept encapsulation, and avoidance of wrapping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Practically all information retrieval based approaches developed to date for automatic bug localization are based on the bag-of-words assumption that ignores any positional and ordering relationships between the terms in a query. In this paper, we argue that bug reports are ill-served by this assumption because such reports frequently contain various types of structural information whose terms must obey certain positional and ordering constraints. It therefore stands to reason that the quality of retrieval for bug localization would improve if these constraints could be taken into account when searching for the most relevant files. In this paper, we demonstrate that such is indeed the case. We show how the well-known Markov Random Field based retrieval framework can be used for taking into account the term-term proximity and ordering relationships in a query vis-à-vis the same relationships in the files of a source-code library to greatly improve the quality of retrieval of the most relevant source files. We have carried out our experimental evaluations on popular large software projects using over 4000 bug reports. The results we present demonstrate unequivocally that the new proposed approach is far superior to the widely used bag-of-words based approaches. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes developer-related factors that could influence the likelihood for a commit to induce a fix. Specifically, we focus on factors that could potentially hinder developers' ability to correctly understand the code components involved in the change to be committed as follows: (i) the coherence of the commit (i.e., how much it is focused on a specific topic); (ii) the experience level of the developer on the files involved in the commit; and (iii) the interfering changes performed by other developers on the files involved in past commits. The results of our study indicate that 'fix-inducing' commits (i.e., commits that induced a fix) are significantly less coherent than 'clean' commits (i.e., commits that did not induce a fix). Surprisingly, 'fix-inducing' commits are performed by more experienced developers; yet, those are the developers performing more complex changes in the system. Finally, 'fix-inducing' commits have a higher number of past interfering changes as compared with 'clean' commits. Our empirical study sheds light on previously unexplored factors and presents significant results that can be used to improve approaches for defect prediction. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) involved in software development often experience problems in mastering their development processes. This can lead to time and cost overruns or failure to address functional and nonfunctional requirements. In general, this can significantly affect customer satisfaction and hamper business growth potential. This paper reports on a survey conducted in Belgium to assess more precisely which and how SMEs are affected by problems related to development processes. The survey was driven by the ISO29110 lightweight standard focusing on very small entities developing software, ie, whose internal IT department is less than 25 people. Worldwide, and in particular in Belgium, this represents a very large portion of SMEs in business. Survey results highlight the most frequent issues and how they may be linked to organization and project characteristics. The survey is based on a free online self-assessment tool. Therefore, results go 1 step further than identifying issues encountered in companies: the tool also infers a set of quick-win high-level recommendations to solve these issues. Our results are also compared with those reported by other surveys targeting both large and small companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well‐known that process improvement change requires “tools‐processes‐people.” Engineers have spent most energy on the tools and processes, but everything is done by people, and success depends on people and their competencies. The increasing focus on people is reflected in many change models; some are discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the original development of program slicing in 1979 there have been many attempts to define a suitable semantics, which will precisely define the meaning of a slice. Particular issues include handling termination and nontermination, slicing nonterminating programs, and slicing nondeterministic programs. In this paper we review and critique the main attempts to construct a semantics for slicing and present a new operational semantics, which correctly handles slicing for nonterminating and nondeterministic programs. We also present a modified denotational semantics, which we prove to be equivalent to the operational semantics. This provides programmers with 2 different methods to prove the correctness of a slice or a slicing algorithm and means that the program transformation theory and FermaT transformation system, developed last 25 years of research, and which has proved so successful in analyzing terminating programs, can now be applied to nonterminating interactive programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge and experience are not the only prerequisite for a successful project; a well-performing team using proper tools and techniques ensures efficient project management. Adequate tool is essential to support decision making in management of any organizational business units. TALAIA OpenPPM is an open-source solution for managing projects, programs, and portfolios. SM2, founder of TALAIA OpenPPM, after 4 years of experience of the tool implementation in companies from different sectors, came to a conclusion that the successful adoption of the tool is strongly affected with existing maturity level of the project management processes established in the organization. Also, this article derives lessons learned by SM2 in expansion and opening of a new business line in the international market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]