Bad Smells in Industrial Automation: Sniffing out Feature Envy

Abstract

Bad Smells are sub-optimal software structures or patterns. They can obstruct the understandability of a software system and cause maintenance issues. As a result, it is critical to avoid Bad Smells. While the subject is well-researched in software engineering, it remains an unresolved issue in industrial automation, e.g., when developing control software in the context of a Cyber-Physical Production System (CPPS). In this short paper, we present possible detection methods for Feature Envy, a smell that indicates bad modularization of a software system. We explain how these methods can be applied to analyze control software developed in IEC 61499. We present first results as well as next steps.