An agent-oriented approach to change propagation in software maintenance

Abstract

Software maintenance and evolution is a lengthy and expensive phase in the life cycle of a software system. In this paper we focus on the change propagation problem: given a primary change that is made in order to meet a new or changed requirement, what additional, secondary, changes are needed? We propose a novel, agent-oriented, approach that works by repairing violations of desired consistency rules in a design model. Such consistency constraints are specified using the Object Constraint Language (OCL) and the Unified Modelling Language (UML) metamodel, which form the key inputs to our change propagation framework. The underlying change propagation mechanism of our framework is based on the well-known Belief-Desire-Intention (BDI) agent architecture. Our approach represents change options for repairing inconsistencies using event-triggered plans, as is done in BDI agent platforms. This naturally reflects the cascading nature of change propagation, where each change (primary or secondary) can require further changes to be made. We also propose a new method for generating repair plans from OCL consistency constraints. Furthermore, a given inconsistency will typically have a number of repair plans that could be used to restore consistency, and we propose a mechanism for semi-automatically selecting between alternative repair plans. This mechanism, which is based on a notion of cost, takes into account cascades (where fixing the violation of a constraint breaks another constraint), and synergies between constraints (where fixing the violation of a constraint also fixes another violated constraint). Finally, we report on an evaluation of the approach, covering effectiveness, efficiency and scalability.

Inconsistency Resolution in Merging Versions of Architectural Models

“…Those approaches however only scale up to medium-size models (e.g. [20]), or limits the depth of the search tree (e.g. [21]) against the favor of fixing all inconsistencies.…”

Soundness Efficient Determination Algorithm of Services Composition in Surrounding Restraint Situation Based on OPN

“…Mathematics and physics definition 1 [4,5]: Petri Net Petri net is a very important modeling tool for concurrent system modeling and dynamic behavior analysis which was first proposed by German C.A.Petri doctor in 1962. Petri net can not only describe the system structure, but also analyze the system dynamic properties.…”

An agent-based framework for distributed collaborative model evolution

“…It then synchronizes concurrent edits made by distributed clients and may notify designers of conflicting modelling decisions. The Plan Generator component of our framework relies on previous work [10] to automatically generate repair plans for consistency conditions expressed as constraints in Object Constraint Language and UML. The automatic generation of repair plans, as opposed to being developed manually by the user, guarantees completeness(i.e.…”

“…Previous work [10] has used agent technology to deal with change propagation 1 in model evolution using a BDI representation to model ways of repairing inconsistencies in design models. More specifically, repairing an inconsistency is considered as a goal/event while repair options are represented as BDI plans achieving/handling such a goal/event.…”