Equipping the reflexion method with automated clustering

Abstract

A significant aspect in applying the reflexion method is the mapping of components found in the source code onto the conceptual components defined in the hypothesized architecture. To date, this mapping is established manually, which requires a lot of work for large software systems. In this paper, we present a new approach, in which clustering techniques are applied to support the user in the mapping activity. The result is a semi-automated mapping technique that accommodates the automatic clustering of the source model with the user's hypothesized knowledge about the system's architecture. This paper describes also a case study in which our semi-automated mapping technique has been applied successfully to extend a partial map of a real-world software application