AnSyMo, Antwerp Systems and software Modelling, is a research group at the University of Antwerp investigating foundations, techniques, methods and tools for the design, analysis and maintenance of software-intensive systems. Today, a large part of our world and society is shaped and steered by systems and software. More or less all devices and machines use software to some extent. Add to this all the organizations, businesses and enterprises that you communicate with on a daily basis that could not function without software.
What is a common challenge or pain point when restructuring existing software?
"We suggest students to always start with CodeScene as it provides great insights on how to begin the restructuring project. CodeScene is the recommended software for two topics, visualization and metrics. CodeScene provides several visualization options that allow the students to have a better overview of the analyzed software. The visualizations also help the students identify possible candidates for refactoring, especially the Technical Debt tab.
Moreover, the complexity metrics and smells details on artifact-level shows the reasoning for the students on why such artifacts were marked as candidates for refactoring."
About how long does it take new students to get up to speed with CodeScene?
"The learning curve for CodeScene seems very easy. We direct them in a lab lecture on how to use most of the Technical Debt tab, and to look at the complexity metrics. Most students tend to explore other features for themselves. But usually, after one lab session, the students seem more than able and comfortable to use CodeScene."
Identify refactoring targets
How does CodeScene complement other tools used in your master-class?
Read more about AnSyMo and their research on the increasing complexity of software intensive systems, there is more information.
CodeScene, at the time called Empear, was also active in an international research project with the overall goal of helping software teams strike a balance between increased development speed without sacrificing quality.
Summary and Key Insights
CodeScene provides great insights to students on how to begin the restructuring project, giving them av overview of the analyzed software and helping them identify candidates for refactoring. They File-Level Hotspots Map and Refactoring targets.
About the Research Group
