Software Evolvability: An Ecosystem Point of View

Abstract

Software systems need to evolve to adapt to either a new environment or a new requirement. This position paper discusses the evolution of a software system from the viewpoint of an ecosystem and asserts that the evolution of a software system is not a standalone process but an aggregate process of other related software systems that forms a software ecosystem. This paper describes several of our ongoing projects in studying different types of symbiotic relationships between software systems and their effects on software evolution.