Current Problems

There is a little doubt that the field of software engineering, like any other engineering fields, has helped us to make our lives what they are today.  With software systems controlling more equipment and also becoming an integral part of more of our lives, the field of software engineering is quickly turning in to an indispensable field.  However, unlike many other engineering fields, the products that are produced through the process of software engineering are largely intangible.  Also, software products are unlikely to remain stable over a long period of time , unlike the products of other engineering fields

In an hardware field, the failure rates of a given product always start on a high note, then drop to a low, and then climb high again.  Very early in a hardware product's lifecycle, one can notice several problems in the product.  As these problems are fixed and standardized, the failure rate of the hardware products drops to its low level.  However, as hardware gets old and worn out, the ensuing physical deterioration  often causes the hardware to fail.  In other words, the hardware wears out rapidly and the failure rate starts rising again.

Software programs, on the other hand, are not subject to the same degree of wear and tear, that  a piece of hardware undergoes.  There are absolutely no environmental factors that can cause a software program to break.  Software is a  special set of instructions, or a complete recipe, for a piece of hardware to follow and obey.  There are no moving parts in a software system.  There is nothing in software that can physically deteriorate.  Software is not supposed to wear out.  Unfortunately, it does in reality.  Innumerable authors and workers in the field of software engineering have identified this peculiar problem.  However, the software engineering techniques as outlined by many software-engineering authors are yet to achieve a good amount of stability in software projects.

This underlying problem is more than just an ordinary inconvenience for software engineers and users.  The reengineering process that is required to alter these software products does not come without a price.  It is not uncommon to hear of these reengineering projects, costing hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars to developers.  This does not even take into account the invaluable time that is always wasted by this continual reengineering process.

Software defects and “deterioration” are caused by many changes in software.  Many of these changes cannot be simply avoided.  However, these changes can definitely be minimized. ,Currently, when a small change is to be made to a software program, the entire program will also need to be reengineered.  It does not matter, if the change required is due to new emerging technology or a small change in clientele.  This reengineering process is ridiculous and unbelievable.  The core purpose of the software product has not changed and will never.  Then, why must the entire project be reengineered to incorporate a small change?

This workshop will examine software stability with respect to three central questions: "How can we engineer software systems that are stable over time?," "What are the approaches and ways of making software systems stable over time?" and "What is the role of object-oriented technology in the issue of software stability over time?."

The workshop will also address pattern languages’ challenges and later debate several issues that are related to the following questions.  We also want researchers, framework developers, and application developers to discuss and debate the following questions related to:

I.          Accomplishing Software Stability Challenges:

1. How can we achieve software stability over a period of time and extend the life span of software products?

2. What are the relationships between software architecture and software that  has been stable over time?

3. What are the relationships between software that has been stable over time and management workflow?

4. What are the relationships between software that has been stable over time and business objects?

5. What is the role of object-oriented techniques and technologies of making software stable over time?

6. What are the approaches of making software stable over time?

7. What is the relationship between software stability and aspect-oriented programming?

8. What is the relationship between application frameworks and software stability?

II.  Impact Challenges:

1.      What are the business and commercial benefits of using Software Stability?

2.      What are the ROI of utilizing Software Stability?

3.      What are the other returns of using Software Stability?

4.      What are the managerial gains of using Software Stability?

5.      What are the impacts of the Software Stability, on the reduction of cost and time of software development?

III. Killer Applications

1.      What are the limitations of using Software Stability?

2.      What are the lessons learned of utilizing Software Stability?

3.      Would you provide experience reports on using Software Stability?

More information will be available at:

http://www.sis.pitt.edu/~iri07/wkshpCFP3.html (Main Link)

http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/~fayad/workshops/IRI07-SSW (Workshop Link 2)

http://www.vrlsoft.com/workshops/SSW07 (Workshop Link 3)

Detailed instructions for electronic paper submission and review process can be found at http://www.sis.pitt.edu/~iri07/submit.html. People interested in participating in this workshop are requested to submit a short position paper (3-5 pages) or a regular workshop paper (limited to 6-15 pages, double spaced, including figures), representing views and experiences that are relevant to the discussion topic of the workshop and, possibly, answering some of the questions raised above. The title page must include a maximum 150-word abstract, five keywords, full mailing address, e-mail address, phone number, fax number, and a designated contact author. Papers will be selected depending on their originality, quality and relevance to the workshop.  All submitted papers will also be evaluated according to its originality, significance, correctness, presentation and relevance. Papers should be submitted electronically at:

 http://www.sis.pitt.edu/~iri07submit.html. Please follow the instructions given on the web page. Camera Ready manuscripts must be submitted, following IEEE conference proceedings style and guidelines. We also encourage authors to present novel and fresh ideas, critique of existing work, and practical studies.

Each accepted paper must be presented in person and live, by the author or one of the authors.  To foster and promote, lively and productive discussions, each author is encouraged to present open questions to the forum and one or two main statements for discussion at the workshop.  Submissions must be either MS-Word or RTF formats (please, DO NOT compress files).

Depending on the total number and spread of contributions, the scope may be narrowed  down to ensure an effective communication and information sharing. Accepted position papers will be distributed to the participants before the workshop and will also be made generally available through the WWW and FTP.   Accepted papers will be published in the Proceedings of the 2007 IEEE International Conference on Information Reuse and Integration (IEEE IRI-07). At least one of the authors of each accepted paper must register as a full delegate in the workshop, to get the paper published in the Proceedings of IEEE IRI 2007. Best papers selected in the workshop will be published in online Journal of International Journal Of Patterns (IJOP).

People who are not interested in submitting their papers are also welcome. They are requested to fill out the participation form and e-mail to the any of workshop chairs.

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PARTICIPATION FORM:

Name and Affiliation:

Position: 

Address:

E-mail:

URL:

Areas of interest:

Reasons for Participating?

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Please note that workshop registration is mandatory, in order to participate in this workshop.  An early registration discount is also available for all participants.  An overhead projector and a flipchart will be available to the participants.   

For more information and workshop details, please visit any of the following websites:

http://www.sis.pitt.edu/~iri07/workshops/SSW07 (Main Link)

http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/~fayad//workshops/SSW07 (Workshop Link 2)

http://www.vrlsoft.com/workshops/SSW07 (Workshop Link 3)

You may also contact the organizers either by e mail or by phone.

1. Welcome and introduction of participants. The organizers will first provide a short overview of all open issues and of the main arguments arising out of the position papers. (Estimated time: 20-30 minutes)

2. Selected authors (representing the main trends) will be allotted 20 minutes to explain how their position relates to other positions, and what each of then sees as the three major issues. We expect about 5-10 position papers in this workshop.  (Estimated time: 120-130 minutes)

3. The organizers will propose an identification process of the major issues, and the participants will then discuss, choose and select what they perceive are the hottest issues to be examined. (Estimated time: 10-15 minutes)

4. The participants will then work for 70-95 minutes in small groups, with a designated moderator assigned for each group. The groups will then individually deal with two different, identified hot issues, and will produce a summary note in the form of points and counterpoints, displaying, either how several views are irreducibly opposed or how they are complementary.  The number of groups will depend mainly on the number of participants and number of issues selected; ideally there should be 3-5 p people in each group. (Estimated time: 60-70 minutes)

5. Each group will be allotted 10-15 minutes to present its findings to the workshop.   A closing discussion will then follow. The workshop report will be composed on the basis of these findings and will include a well defined agenda for future exploration and cooperation; it will be made available through the WWW and FTP. (Estimated time: 50-60 minutes for five teams)

(Total estimated time: 285-315 minutes, i.e. about five hours +/- 15 minutes; lunch and breaks are not included.)

Dr. M.E. Fayad  (Chair)

Professor of Computer Engineering

Computer Engineering Dept., College of Engineering

San José State University

One Washington Square, San José, CA 95192-0180

Ph: (408) 924-7364, Fax: (408) 924-4153

E-mail: m.fayad@sjsu.edu, mefayad@gmail.com

URL: http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/fayad

Dr. Rami Bahsoon  (Co-Chair)

School of Engineering and Applied Science

Dept of Computer Science

Aston University, Aston Triangle

Birmingham B4 7ET, United Kingdom

Ph: +44(0)1212043464

E-mail: r.bahsoon@aston.ac.uk

URL: http://www-users.aston.ac.uk/~bahsoonr/

Dr. Chia-Chu Chiang (Co-Chair)

University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Department of Computer Science, 2801 South University Ave.,

Little Rock, Arkansas 72204-1099, USA

Ph: (501) 569-8142

E-mail: cxchiang@ualr.edu

URL: http://pandora.compsci.ualr.edu/cxchiang/index.html

Dr. Shasha Wu (Co-Chair)

Assistant Professor of Computer Science

Spring Arbor University

106 E. Main St.

Spring Arbor, MI 49283-9799

Ph: 517-750-6698

E-mail: swu@arbor.edu

URL: http://myweb.arbor.edu/swu/

Rami Bahsoon,  Aston University in Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

Chia-Chu Chiang, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, USA

M.E. Fayad, San Jose State University & vrlSoft, Inc., Silicon Valley, USA

João Miguel Fernandes, Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal

Pilar Herrero, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain

Hoda Hosny, The American University in Cairo, Egypt

Dae-Kyoo Kim, Oakland University, USA

Tokuro Matsuo,  Yamagata University, Japan

Flavio Oquendo, University of South Brittany, France

Michael Oudshoorn, Montana State University, USA

Elke Pulvermueller, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Srini Ramaswamy,   University of Arkansas, Little Rock, USA

Shasha Wu,   Spring Arbor University, USA