Evaluating the Feasibility of Adopting Models in Software Engineering Process Abhilash

Evaluating the feasibility of adopting models in

Software engineering process

Abhilash

October 29, 2014

INTRODUCTION

        Today's systems are large. Large in the sense, the number of developers involved, functions and variants defined, classes and use cases used, lines of code written etc. These factors make the system complex. The cost of development of these systems is high. If errors are found in the system, then re-designing and synchronizing the re-written code is not economically feasible. For instance, if a new technology with better features are available in the market, then re-configuring the existing system becomes unmanageable.

        Instead, today's systems must be developed in a way to adopt the change that may occur in the future. This can be done by using models as primary artifacts. Through which additional extensions, modifications can be made when the change is needed in the future. By separating the design and the data or documentation the systems can accommodate change by enhancing the quality of the product(Özgür 2007).

        Complexity and lack of abstraction are the major challenges facing by software companies. Model Driven Development is growing and it has the capabilities to solve complex problems. It also leverages the ability to  develop product in less time and also decrease maintenance effort while increasing the quality of product. Many companies are showing interest to adopt MDD. Code generation or the computerization of the technical work is the main application of the MDD approaches. Moreover, this technology is also used in the assistance and automation of methodological practices.

        But, one cannot state that it ultimately supersedes writing code. Not all the firms which adopted this approach generated code successfully. It depends on the code generators used and it varies from one firm to another. Further study and development is needed to build such code generators which can supersede writing code.

CODE-CENTRIC TO MODEL DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT

        Software systems are complex in nature now-a-days. Adding features which are more capable and modifications to the existing software systems are the principal causes for the system's complexity. Existing systems must cope up with the new technologies which are in-demand in the market in this challenging world. By practicing the traditional approach, i.e., Code centric approach, developers face difficulties in re-writing the code to accommodate that change. The situation may become worse: 1)  If there are many developers working on that system, 2) If the developers are working from different locations.