Using graph patterns to extract scenarios

Abstract

Scenario diagrams are useful for helping software developers to understand the interactions among the components of a software system. We present a semi-automatic approach to extracting scenarios from the implementation of a software system. In our approach, the source code of a software system is represented as a graph and scenarios are specified as graph patterns. A relational calculator, Grok, is extended to support graph pattern matching. Grok, as extended, is used in our analysis of the Nautilus open source file manager. Multiple scenarios are extracted and analyzed. These scenarios have helped us to analyze Nautilus's architecture.