Using Dependence Matrix to Support Change Impact Analysis for CBS

Abstract

Component-based software development technique and its extensive application have led to the wide research in various aspects of component-based software (CBS). The rapid evolution of CBS brings great challenges to its maintenance in the later phase, so it is quite necessary to measure the change impact on the whole system. By using component dependence matrix to represent component-based software system, the paper mainly discusses the case of component modification, including the single component change and the changes of multi-components, and proposes the corresponding algorithms (i.e. Appxm RM, Generate_SP, and Calculate_CR) for analyzing the change impacts in CBS. In addition, the calculation process of change impact analysis and its effectiveness are also validated by a simple CBS.