Dependency related parameters in the reconstruction of a layered software architecture

Abstract

Software architecture reconstruction techniques may be used to understand and maintain software systems, especially in these cases where architectural documentation is outdated or missing. Reconstruction of layers is interesting, since the Layers pattern is commonly used in practice. Layers reconstruction algorithms are based on dependency analysis. In this paper, we define two dependency related parameters and explore their impact on the results of a layer reconstruction algorithm. The first parameter concerns the types of dependencies between software units included in the algorithm. The second parameter concerns the maximum ratio of allowed back-call dependencies between two software units in different layers. By means of experiments on a case system, and by means of conformance checking results, we explain and illustrate the impact of differences in parameter settings. We show that these parameters have a big impact. Consequently, exact specification of used parameter values is relevant in publications. Furthermore, parameter configuration options may be considered to improve tool support.