Software Evolution

Citation

(2008), "Software Evolution", Kybernetes, Vol. 37 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.2008.06737fae.002

Software Evolution

Article Type: Book reports From: Kybernetes, Volume 37, Issue 6

Edited by Tom Mens and Serge DemeyerSpringerHeidelberg2007ISBN 978-3-540-76439-7

Tom Mens of the University of Mons-Hainaut, Belgium and Serge Demeyer of the University of Antwerp, Belgium are the Editors of this book called Software Evolution. It has contributions by international authorities of this field and is a joint effort of the European Research Consortium for Information and Mathematics Working Group on Software Evolution. The compilers believe that this book highlights the importance of the field and supports the view that:

Software has become omnipresent and vital in our information-based society, so all software producers should assume responsibility for its reliability. While “reliable” originally assumed implementations that were effective and mainly error-free, additional issues like adaptability and maintainability have gained equal importance recently.

The book in essence focusses on novel trends in software evolution research and its relations with other emerging disciplines such as model-driven software engineering, service-oriented software development, and aspect-oriented software development. The editors do not restrict themselves to the evolution of source code but also address the evolution of other equally important software artifacts such as databases and database schemas, design models, software architectures and process management. The editors have ensured that the contributors provide broad overviews of related work. A comprehensive glossary, a list of acronyms, and a list of books, journals, web sites, standards and conferences that together represent the community’s body of knowledge are included in the text.

This jointly produced book appears to be aimed at researchers and professionals who wish to obtain a sound introduction and a comprehensive overview of current activity in software. Cyberneticians and those involved in both systems and management science where an up-to-date appreciation of the initiatives in the software field, are required, will surely find this book a very worthwhile purchase.

It is also suggested that the book may be suitable for an advanced course on software evolution. We are reminded that:

For example, the 2004 ACM/IEEE Software Engineering Curriculum Guidelines list software evolution as one of ten key areas of software engineering education.