Apparatus and method for managing a software development and maintenance system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9727329-B2
Application number	US-201414160555-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 22, 2014
Priority date	Jan 22, 2013
Publication date	Aug 8, 2017
Grant date	Aug 8, 2017

Abstract

A management apparatus and a method for managing a software development and maintenance system are provided. In order to improve the quality and to minimize errors in a code base, an analysis of individual parts of the code base and related functional and/or architectural concerns is performed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A managing apparatus for managing a software development and maintenance system, the managing apparatus comprising:
an issue memory configured to store a set of issues, each issue of the set of issues specifying an implementation of software feature or a bug fix of a software code base of a software system;
a construct memory configured to store a set of constructs, each construct of the set of constructs being an implementation of an issue and an element of the software code base of the software system;
an issue vector generating device configured to establish a set of issue vectors, wherein each element of an issue vector of the set of issue vectors specifies changes of a construct of the stored set of constructs in association with at least one issue of the stored set of issues;
a computing device configured to compute a statistical value using the established set of issue vectors; and
a determining device configured to determine a relationship between an issue and implementation of the issue, the determination of the relationship comprising determination of a degree of interdependence between two issues of the set of issues, the determination of the degree of interdependence comprising indication, based on the computed statistical value, to which extent implementations of the two issues are intermingled with each other, such that the implementations affect the same set of constructs to an extent that is defined by a statistical correlation or a Pearson index of the established set of issue vectors.

2. The management apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a check-in device comprising:
a receiver configured for receiving a construct and for determining issue information specifying an issue associated with the received construct;

a verifying device configured for:
comparing the received construct with a version of the construct stored in the construct memory; and
identifying an amendment between the received construct and a stored former version of the construct; and

a tracking memory configured for:
storing the determined issue information; and
storing the identified amendment between the received construct and the stored former version of the respective construct,

wherein the check-in device is configured to store the received construct in the construct memory.

3. The management apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the verifying device is configured to determine lines of code that have been added, modified, removed, or a combination thereof in the received construct.

4. The management apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the receiver is configured to receive a plurality of constructs associated with a single issue, and the verifying device is configured to determine which constructs have been amended for the associated issue.

5. The management apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the receiver is configured to receive a plurality of constructs associated with a single issue, and the verifying device is configured to determine which constructs have been amended for the associated issue.

6. A method for managing a software development and maintenance system, the method comprising:
providing a set of issues, each issue of the set of issues specifying an implementation of software feature or a bug fix of a software code base of a software system;
providing a set of constructs of a software code base, each construct of the set of constructs being an implementation of an issue and an element of the software code base;
establishing a set of issue vectors, wherein each element of the issue vector of the set of issue vectors specifies changes of a construct of the provided set of constructs in association with at least one issue provided in the set of issues;
computing, with a processor, statistical values between the established set of issue vectors; and
determining a relationship between an issue and implementation of the issue, the determining of the relationship comprising determining a degree of interdependence between two issues of the set of issues, the determining of the degree of interdependence comprising indicating, based on the computed statistical values, to which extent implementations of the two issues are intermingled with each other, such that the implementations affect the same set of constructs to an extent that is defined by a statistical correlation or a Pearson index of the established set of issue vectors.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the establishing comprises determining a number of constructs being affected by the respective one issue of the set of issues, and wherein the determining comprises determining the degree of interdependence using the determined number of constructs being affected by the respective one issue.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the computing comprises computing a statistical correlation or a Pearson index of two established issue vectors of the set of issue vectors.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the computing comprises a multiple regression analysis.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein each issue of the set of issues is an implementation of error handling, persistence, multi-thread strategies, or a combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 6 , wherein the set of constructs is a set of files, directories, sub-directories, namespaces, classes or class methods/functions.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the computing comprises computing a statistical correlation or a Pearson index of two established issue vectors of the set of issue vectors.

13. The method of claim 7 , wherein the computing comprises a multiple regression analysis.

14. The method of claim 7 , wherein each issue of the set of issues is an implementation of error handling, persistence, multi-thread strategies, or a combination thereof.

15. The method of claim 8 , wherein each issue of the set of issues is an implementation of error handling, persistence, multi-thread strategies, or a combination thereof.

16. The method of claim 9 , wherein each issue of the set of issues is an implementation of error handling, persistence, multi-thread strategies, or a combination thereof.

17. The method of claim 7 , wherein the set of constructs is a set of files, directories, sub-directories, namespaces, classes, or class methods/functions.

18. The method of claim 7 , wherein the set of constructs is a set of files, directories, sub-directories, namespaces, classes or class methods/functions.

19. The method of claim 8 , wherein the set of constructs is a set of files, directories, sub-directories, namespaces, classes, or class methods/functions.

20. The method of claim 9 , wherein the set of constructs is a set of files, directories, sub-directories, namespaces, classes, or class methods/functions.

21. A computer program product for managing a software development and maintenance system, the computer program product comprising:
a non-transitory computer-readable storage device having computer-readable program instructions stored therein, the computer-readable program instructions being executable by a processor to:
provide a set of issues, each issue of the set of issues specifying an implementation of software feature or a bug fix of a software code base of a software system;
provide a set of constructs of a software code base, each construct of the set of constructs being an implementation of an issue and an element of the software code base;
establish a set of issue vectors, wherein each element of the issue vector of the set of issue vectors specifi

Assignees

• Wuchner Egon
• Siemens Ag

Inventors

• Wuchner Egon

Classifications

• G06F11/3452

  Performance evaluation by statistical analysis · CPC title

• G06F8/72

  Code refactoring · CPC title

• G06F8/70 Primary

  Software maintenance or management · CPC title

• G06F8/71

  Version control (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57); Configuration management · CPC title

• G06F11/3688

  for test execution, e.g. scheduling of test suites · CPC title