Case-Based Reasoning for Reducing Software Development Effort

Abstract

How can we best find project changes that most improve project estimates? Prior solutions to this problem required the use of standard software process models that may not be relevant to some new project. Also, those prior solutions suffered from limited verification (the only way to assess the results of those studies was to run the recommendations back through the standard process models). Combining case-based reasoning and contrast set learning, the W system requires no underlying model. Hence, it is widely applicable (since there is no need for data to conform to some software process models). Also, W’s results can be verified (using holdout sets). For example, in the experiments reported here, W found changes to projects that greatly reduced estimate median and variance by up to 95% and 83% (respectively)

Case-based reasoning vs parametric models for software quality optimization

“…W extends standard CBR by learning an adaption of q, called q , that retrieves better quality examples. Based on the analysis of [8] and this paper, we recommend W on several grounds:…”

“…SEESAW can only handle models in the COCOMO format. Hence, we restrict ourselves to data in that format (see [8] for examples of W running on a much broader set of inputs).…”

“…W was first introduced in [8] but that report includes no comparisons with other quality optimizers. This paper compares W 's case-based reasoning against SEE-SAW's parametric models.…”

“…Hence it can be quickly applied to more data sets. For example, SEESAW requires data to be in the COCOMO format but W has been applied to numerous data sets in other formats [8].…”

A Case-Based Quality Assurance System for Higher Education

“…Case-based reasoning life cycle is comprised of 4 primary stages [16] i.e. 1) Retrieve searches for stored cases and determines whether the case is applicable to solving the problem at hand 2) Reuse applies the case from stage 1 to solve the problem at hand 3) Revise amends or adapts the problem-solving methods for optimal application to the problem at hand and 4) Retain keeps and records the solution methods applied to the new problem for additional case-based purposes.…”