Software, Volume 2, Issue 3 (September 2023) – 6 articles

The core reasoning task for datalog engines is materialization, the evaluation of a datalog program over a database alongside its physical incorporation into the database itself. The de-facto method of computing is through the recursive application of inference rules. Due to it being a costly operation, it is a must for datalog engines to provide incremental materialization; that is, to adjust the computation to new data instead of restarting from scratch. One of the major caveats is that deleting data is notoriously more involved than adding since one has to take into account all possible data that has been entailed from what is being deleted. Differential dataflow is a computational model that provides efficient incremental maintenance, notoriously with equal performance between additions and deletions, and work distribution of iterative dataflows. In this paper, we investigate the performance of materialization with three reference datalog implementations, out of which one is built on top of a lightweight relational engine, and the two others are differential-dataflow and non-differential versions of the same rewrite algorithm with the same optimizations. Experimental results suggest that monotonic aggregation is more powerful than ascenting merely the powerset lattice. Full article

Microservices have emerged as a prevalent architectural style in modern software development, replacing traditional monolithic architectures. The decomposition of business functionality into distributed microservices offers numerous benefits, but introduces increased complexity to the overall application. Consequently, the complexity of authorization in microservice-based applications necessitates a comprehensive approach that integrates authorization as an inherent component from the beginning. This paper presents a systematic approach for achieving fine-grained user authorization using Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC). The proposed approach emphasizes structure preservation, facilitating traceability throughout the various phases of application development. As a result, authorization artifacts can be traced seamlessly from the initial analysis phase to the subsequent implementation phase. One significant contribution is the development of a language to formulate natural language authorization requirements and policies. These natural language authorization policies can subsequently be implemented using the policy language Rego. By leveraging the analysis of software artifacts, the proposed approach enables the creation of comprehensive and tailored authorization policies. Full article

In recent years, research on digital transformation (DT) and business process management (BPM) has gained significant attention in the field of business and management. This paper aims to conduct a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of global research on DT and BPM from 2007 to 2022. A total of 326 papers were selected from Web of Science and Scopus for analysis. Using bibliometric methods, we evaluated the current state and future research trends of DT and BPM. Our analysis reveals that the number of publications on DT and BPM has grown significantly over time, with the Business Process Management Journal being the most active. The countries that have contributed the most to this field are Germany (with four universities in the top 10) and the USA. The Business Process Management Journal is the most active in publishing research on digital transformation and business process management. The analysis showed that “artificial intelligence” is a technology that has been studied extensively and is increasingly asserted to influence companies’ business processes. Additionally, the study provides valuable insights from the co-citation network analysis. Based on our findings, we provide recommendations for future research directions on DT and BPM. This study contributes to a better understanding of the current state of research on DT and BPM and provides insights for future research. Full article

This paper starts by presenting the concept of a mobile application. A literature review is conducted, which shows that there is still a certain lack with regard to smartphone applications in the domain of engineering as independent simulation applications and not only as extensions of smartphone tools. The challenges behind this lack are then discussed. Subsequently, three case studies of engineering applications for both smartphones and the internet are presented, alongside their solutions to the challenges presented. The first case study concerns an engineering application for systems control. The second case study focuses on an engineering application for composite materials. The third case study focuses on the finite element method and structure generation. The solutions to the presented challenges are then described through their implementation in the applications. The three case studies show a new system of thought concerning the development of engineering smartphone applications. Full article

Embedded systems have attracted more attention and have become more critical due to the recent computer technology advancements and applications in various areas, such as healthcare, transportation, and manufacturing. Traditional software design approaches and the finite state machine cannot provide sufficient support due to two major reasons: the increasing need for more functions in designing an embedded system and sequential controls in the implementation. This deficiency particularly discourages inexperienced engineers who use conventional methods to design embedded software. Hence, we proposed a design method, the Synthesis-Based Stateful Software Design Approach (SSSDA), which synthesizes two existing methods, the Synthesis-Based Software Design Framework (SSDF) and Process and Artifact State Transition Abstraction (PASTA), to remedy the drawback of conventional methods. To show how to conduct our proposed design approach and investigate how it supports embedded system design, we studied an industrial project developed by a sophomore student team. Our results showed that our proposed approach could significantly help students lay out modules, improve testability, and reduce defects. Full article

This study compares the reliability of estimation, productivity, and defect rate metrics for sprints driven by a specific instance of the agile approach (i.e., scrum) and an agile model-Bbased software engineering (MBSE) approach called the integrated Scrum Model-Based System Architecture Process (sMBSAP) when developing a software system. The quasi-experimental study conducted ten sprints using each approach. The approaches were then evaluated based on their effectiveness in helping the product development team estimate the backlog items that they could build during a time-boxed sprint and deliver more product backlog items (PBI) with fewer defects. The commitment reliability ($CR$) was calculated to compare the reliability of estimation with a measured average scrum-driven value of 0.81 versus a statistically different average sMBSAP-driven value of 0.94. Similarly, the average sprint velocity ($SV$) for the scrum-driven sprints was 26.8 versus 31.8 for the MBSAP-driven sprints. The average defect density ($DD$) for the scrum-driven sprints was 0.91, while that of the sMBSAP-driven sprints was 0.63. The average defect leakage ($DL$) for the scrum-driven sprints was 0.20, while that of the sMBSAP-driven sprints was 0.15. The t-test analysis concluded that the sMBSAP-driven sprints were associated with a statistically significant larger mean $CR$, $SV$, $DD$, and $DL$ than that of the scrum-driven sprints. The overall results demonstrate formal quantitative benefits of an agile MBSE approach compared to an agile alone, thereby strengthening the case for considering agile MBSE methods within the software development community. Future work might include comparing agile and agile MBSE methods using alternative research designs and further software development objectives, techniques, and metrics. Full article