DocumentCode :
1041521
Title :
Evaluating the effect of a delegated versus centralized control style on the maintainability of object-oriented software
Author :
Arisholm, Erik ; Sjøberg, Dag I K
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Software Eng., Simula Res. Lab., Lysaker, Norway
Volume :
30
Issue :
8
fYear :
2004
Firstpage :
521
Lastpage :
534
Abstract :
A fundamental question in object-oriented design is how to design maintainable software. According to expert opinion, a delegated control style, typically a result of responsibility-driven design, represents object-oriented design at its best, whereas a centralized control style is reminiscent of a procedural solution, or a "bad" object-oriented design. We present a controlled experiment that investigates these claims empirically. A total of 99 junior, intermediate, and senior professional consultants from several international consultancy companies were hired for one day to participate in the experiment. To compare differences between (categories of) professionals and students, 59 students also participated. The subjects used professional Java tools to perform several change tasks on two alternative Java designs that had a centralized and delegated control style, respectively. The results show that the most skilled developers, in particular, the senior consultants, require less time to maintain software with a delegated control style than with a centralized control style. However, more novice developers, in particular, the undergraduate students and junior consultants, have serious problems understanding a delegated control style, and perform far better with a centralized control style. Thus, the maintainability of object-oriented software depends, to a large extent, on the skill of the developers who are going to maintain it. These results may have serious implications for object-oriented development in an industrial context: having senior consultants design object-oriented systems may eventually pose difficulties unless they make an effort to keep the designs simple, as the cognitive complexity of "expert" designs might be unmanageable for less skilled maintainers.
Keywords :
Java; object-oriented programming; software development management; software maintenance; Java design; centralized control style; delegated control style; object-oriented design; object-oriented development; object-oriented programming; object-oriented software maintainability; professional Java tool; Business communication; Centralized control; Design methodology; Electrical equipment industry; Java; Logic; Object oriented programming; Software design; Software maintenance; Unified modeling language; 65; Index Terms- Design principles; control styles; controlled experiment.; object-oriented design; object-oriented programming; responsibility delegation; software maintainability;
fLanguage :
English
Journal_Title :
Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on
Publisher :
ieee
ISSN :
0098-5589
Type :
jour
DOI :
10.1109/TSE.2004.43
Filename :
1316869
Link To Document :
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