A Framework to Support the Selection of Software Technologies by Search-Based Strategy

This paper presents a framework to instantiate software technologies selection approaches by using search techniques. The software technologies selection problem (STSP) is modeled as a Combinatorial Optimization problem aiming attending different real scenarios in Software Engineering. The proposed framework works as a top-level layer over generic optimization frameworks that implement a high number of metaheuristics proposed in the technical literature, such as JMetal and OPT4J. It aims supporting software engineers that are not able to use optimization frameworks during a software project due to short deadlines and limited resources or skills. The framework was evaluated in a case study of a complex real-world software engineering scenario. This scenario was modeled as the STSP and some experiments were executed with different metaheuristics using the proposed framework. The results indicate its feasibility as support to the selection of software technologies.