research-article

FLINTS: a tool for architectural-level modeling of features in software systems

Authors:

Sebastian Herold,

Goetz Botterweck,

Chris ExtonAuthors Info & Claims

ECSAW '16: Proccedings of the 10th European Conference on Software Architecture Workshops

Article No.: 14, Pages 1 - 7

https://doi.org/10.1145/2993412.3003390

Published: 28 November 2016 Publication History

Abstract

A functional perspective of software systems, at the architectural level allows developers to maintain a consistent understanding of the relationships between different functionalities of their system as it evolves, and allows them to analyze the system at a functional-chunk level rather than at the traditional, structural levels more typically presented by IDEs.

This paper describes the derivation, implementation and evaluation of a prototype tool built to obtain this functional perspective from existing systems. The tool supports developers as they first attempt to locate specific functionalities in the source code. This support is based on preliminary design principles identified by observing experienced software developers in-vivo, as they performed this task manually. After the code associated with several such functionalities is located in the code, a graphical view allows the developer to assess the source code dependencies between the identified features and with the rest of the system. This helps developers understand the inter-functional interfaces and can be reviewed over time, as features are added and removed, to ensure on-going consistency between the architect's perspective of the features in the system and the code-base.

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Cited By

Mondal AHossain MRoy CRoy BSchneider K(2025)FSECAM: A contextual thematic approach for linking feature to multi-level software architectural componentsJournal of Systems and Software10.1016/j.jss.2024.112245219(112245)Online publication date: Jan-2025
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2024.112245
Dan JWu QYang BChu C(2019)Research on Auto-Construction Approach for Architecture of Information System Based on Transaction Flow2019 3rd International Conference on Data Science and Business Analytics (ICDSBA)10.1109/ICDSBA48748.2019.00060(257-260)Online publication date: Oct-2019
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDSBA48748.2019.00060
Yates RPower NBuckley J(2019)Characterizing the transfer of program comprehension in onboarding: an information-push perspectiveEmpirical Software Engineering10.1007/s10664-019-09741-6Online publication date: 26-Jul-2019
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10664-019-09741-6
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

FLINTS: a tool for architectural-level modeling of features in software systems
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software creation and management
    1. Software post-development issues
      1. Software reverse engineering
  2. Software organization and properties
    1. Software system structures
      1. Software architectures

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cover image ACM Other conferences

ECSAW '16: Proccedings of the 10th European Conference on Software Architecture Workshops

November 2016

234 pages

ISBN:9781450347815

DOI:10.1145/2993412

Conference Chairs:
Rami Bahsoon
The University of Birmingham, UK
,
Rainer Weinreich
Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria

Copyright � 2016 ACM.

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 28 November 2016

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Funding Sources

European Regional Development Fund
Science Foundation Ireland

Conference

ECSAW '16

ECSAW '16: European Conference on Software Architecture Workshops

November 28 - December 2, 2016

Copenhagen, Denmark

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Overall Acceptance Rate 80 of 120 submissions, 67%

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Cited By

Mondal AHossain MRoy CRoy BSchneider K(2025)FSECAM: A contextual thematic approach for linking feature to multi-level software architectural componentsJournal of Systems and Software10.1016/j.jss.2024.112245219(112245)Online publication date: Jan-2025
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2024.112245
Dan JWu QYang BChu C(2019)Research on Auto-Construction Approach for Architecture of Information System Based on Transaction Flow2019 3rd International Conference on Data Science and Business Analytics (ICDSBA)10.1109/ICDSBA48748.2019.00060(257-260)Online publication date: Oct-2019
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDSBA48748.2019.00060
Yates RPower NBuckley J(2019)Characterizing the transfer of program comprehension in onboarding: an information-push perspectiveEmpirical Software Engineering10.1007/s10664-019-09741-6Online publication date: 26-Jul-2019
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10664-019-09741-6
Margaria TSchieweck A(2019)The Digital Thread in Industry 4.0Integrated Formal Methods10.1007/978-3-030-34968-4_1(3-24)Online publication date: 22-Nov-2019
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34968-4_1
Razzaq AWasala AExton CBuckley J(2018)The State of Empirical Evaluation in Static Feature LocationACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology10.1145/328098828:1(1-58)Online publication date: 5-Dec-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3280988

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