Recognising object-oriented software design quality: a practitioner-based questionnaire survey

Stevenson, Jamie; Wood, Murray

doi:10.1007/s11219-017-9364-8

Cited by 13 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…In a survey on design quality with industry practitioners [27], Stevenson and Wood found a mixed response in terms of the value of inheritance. Specific comments on inheritance usage included: "avoid … it always ends up biting me", "you don't want your ears to pop when traversing down the inheritance hierarchy", "abstract inheritance over object inheritance", and "derived types must satisfy the Liskov Substitution Principle … very difficult to achieve, so we try to use composition".…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inheritance usage patterns in open-source systems

Stevenson

Wood

2018

Proceedings of the 40th International Conference on Software Engineering

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is research investigates how object-oriented inheritance is actually used in practice. e aim is to close the gap between inheritance guidance and inheritance practice. It is based on detailed analyses of 2440 inheritance hierarchies drawn from 14 open-source systems. e original contributions made by this paper concern pragmatic assessment of inheritance hierarchy design quality. e findings show that inheritance is very widely used but that most of the usage paerns that occur in practice are simple in structure. ey are so simple that they may not require much inheritance-specific design consideration. On the other hand, the majority of classes defined using inheritance actually appear within a relatively small number of large, complex hierarchies. While some of these large hierarchies appear to have a consistent structure, oen based on a problem domain model or a design paern, others do not. Another contribution is that the quality of hierarchies, especially the large problematic ones, may be assessed in practice based on size, shape, and the definition and invocation of novel methods-all properties that can be detected automatically.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inheritance usage patterns in open-source systems

Stevenson

Wood

2018

Proceedings of the 40th International Conference on Software Engineering

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“…This makes the testing process capable of changing with regards to deadlines, prioritisation, and stakeholders' feedback. The survey [53] finds that design quality is vital if software is to be maintainable and finds a relationship between design quality and testing practices. Therefore, our results support this survey through the employer's demand foremost for design skills, which also encompasses the need for maintainable software, good design, and good testing practices.…”

Section: A) Designing Tests Is the Main Demandmentioning

confidence: 99%

The skills that employers look for in software testers

Florea

Stray

2019

Software Qual J

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Software testing is an integral part of software development that provides better quality products and user experiences and helps build the reputation of software companies. Though software testers perform a role that requires specific tasks and skills, in-depth studies of software testers lag behind research studies of other roles within software development teams. In this paper, we aim to create a profile of testers by presenting an empirical analysis of the skills the industry currently needs. We analysed data from 400 job ads in 33 countries. We mapped the skills on a taxonomy comprising test-related, technical, and domain-specific skills. In addition, we looked at the demand for educational attainment, relevant certifications, and previous experience requirements. Our findings show that employers are mostly interested in skills related to test planning and design, test automation, functional testing, performance testing, and progress reporting. One third of the job advertisers were interested in people with the skills to operate test execution tools. Selenium was the testing tool most in demand. The testers must have strong technical abilities, including programming skills in Java, C#, and SQL. Also, they must handle project management tasks such as estimation, risk management, and quality assurance. Employers do not emphasise domain-specific knowledge, which indicates that they consider testing skills portable across industries. One in seven job ads asks for a software testing certification. Our study helps clarify the complexity of the testing job and outlines the capabilities one needs to fulfil a software tester's responsibilities.

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“…In a survey on design quality with industry practitioners [16], Stevenson and Wood found a mixed response in terms of the value of inheritance. Specific comments on inheritance usage included: "avoid … it always ends up biting me", "you don't want your ears to pop when traversing down the inheritance hierarchy", and "derived types must satisfy the Liskov Substitution Principle … very difficult to achieve, so we try to use composition".…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Challenges include understanding what is inherited, what and where it is overridden, what interfaces are being implemented, how the different types are used in the rest of the system, when and where they are used as a general type, and when and where they are used as a specific type. It is easy to see why practitioners are so wary of inheritance [16]. It is therefore vital to consider design alternatives when first introducing these complex hierarchies.…”

Section: What Are the Design Qualities Of Subtree Inheritance Hierarcmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Inheritance is a core but controversial feature of most objectoriented approaches to design and implementation. A recent survey of practitioners found mixed views on how inheritance is used in practice [16]. One difficulty is that inheritance is used to support two distinct properties in mainstream languages such as Java -type inheritance (polymorphism) and module reuse.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Analysis of Inheritance Hierarchy Evolution

Wood

Ivanov

Lamprou

2019

Proceedings of the Evaluation and Assessment on Software Engineering

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This research investigates the evolution of object-oriented inheritance hierarchies in open source, Java systems. The paper contributes an understanding of how hierarchies, particularly large complex hierarchies, evolve in 'real world' systems. It informs object-oriented design practices that aim to control or avoid these complicated design structures. The study is based on a detailed analysis of 665 inheritance hierarchies drawn from a total of 262 versions of 10 open source systems. The research contributions include that: i) the majority of inheritance hierarchies are 'simple' in structure and remain that way throughout their lifetimes ii) the majority of hierarchies are stable in terms of size and shape throughout their lifetimes iii) there is a minority of large, complex, branching 'Subtree' hierarchies that continue to grow ever more complicated as the systems evolve iv) a detailed analysis of some of these larger hierarchies finds evidence of 'good' object-oriented design practices being used but also highlights the significant challenges involved in understanding and refactoring these complex structures. There is clear evidence that some of the complex hierarchies are emphasising reuse while others appear focused on type inheritance.

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Recognising object-oriented software design quality: a practitioner-based questionnaire survey

Cited by 13 publications

References 64 publications

Inheritance usage patterns in open-source systems

Inheritance usage patterns in open-source systems

The skills that employers look for in software testers

An Analysis of Inheritance Hierarchy Evolution

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