Software Design and Artificial Intelligence: A Systematic Mapping Study

Abstract

Software Design (SD from now on) is a critical process in the Software Development Life Cycle. Like all processes, there is a constant search for the improvement of SD activities. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has proven to be an effective tool to perform activities of any kind, this includes SD assisting. This study presents the state of the art related to the application of AI techniques in SD activities, in order to achieve this goal, we carried out a systematic mapping study consisting of 36 papers. The studies reported the use of 28 AI techniques, such as Neural Networks and Decision Trees; considering 20 SD activities, like diagram generation and design pattern detection. The inclusion of AI techniques in SD is an increasing trend in software development. The collected studies demonstrate the effectiveness of This inclusion, showing successful applications, which in turn may create more interest in the coupling of AI and SD in further studies.