Title :
Feature-gathering dependency-based software clustering using Dedication and Modularity
Author :
Kobayashi, Kaoru ; Kamimura, Manabu ; Kato, Kazuhiko ; Yano, Ken´ichi ; Matsuo, Akihiko
Author_Institution :
Software Syst. Labs., Fujitsu Labs. Ltd., Kawasaki, Japan
Abstract :
Software clustering is one of the important techniques to comprehend software systems. However, presented techniques to date require human interactions to refine clustering results. In this paper, we proposed a novel dependency-based software clustering algorithm, SArF. SArF has two characteristics. First, SArF eliminates the need of the omnipresent-module-removing step which requires human interactions. Second, the objective of SArF is to gather relevant software features or functionalities into a cluster. To achieve them, we defined the Dedication score to infer the importance of dependencies and utilized Modularity Maximization to cluster weighted directed graphs. Two case studies and extensive comparative evaluations using open source and industrial systems show that SArF could successfully decompose the systems fitting to the authoritative decompositions from a feature viewpoint without any tailored setups and that SArF was superior to existing dependency-based software clustering studies. Besides, the case studies show that there exist measurable authoritativeness limits and that SArF nearly reached the limits.
Keywords :
directed graphs; pattern clustering; software architecture; software maintenance; software metrics; SArF; dedication score; feature-gathering dependency-based software clustering; measurable authoritativeness limits; modularity maximization; omnipresent-module-removing step; relevant software features; relevant software functionalities; software maintenance; software system architecture; software system comprehension; weighted directed graphs; Clustering algorithms; Computer architecture; Humans; Software algorithms; Software maintenance; Software systems; community detection; dependency analysis; fan-in analysis; omnipresent modules; software architecture reconstruction; software clustering;
Conference_Titel :
Software Maintenance (ICSM), 2012 28th IEEE International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Trento
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-2313-0
DOI :
10.1109/ICSM.2012.6405308