Evolution of design patterns: a replication study

Abstract

Context. In 2007, Aversano et al. [2] analysed the evolution of JHotDraw, ArgoUML, and Eclipse JDT between years 2000-2005 to understand the role of frequently changed design patterns. Goal. In this paper, we perform a replication of the study on more recent versions to control for artifactual results. In particular, we investigate whether maturity of software versions can affect the original results. Method. We perform a re-analysis of the original data to learn and correctly deploy the tools used for data collection and analysis and to control instrumental threats that typically affect a replication. Results/Conclusions. Findings confirm that patterns change more frequently when they play a crucial role in the software and when in newer releases they support more advanced features.