Quantifying usability of domain-specific languages: An empirical study on software maintenance
Autor(a) principal: | |
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Data de Publicação: | 2015 |
Outros Autores: | , , , , |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Texto Completo: | http://repositorio.inesctec.pt/handle/123456789/6540 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2014.11.051 |
Resumo: | A domain-specific language (DSL) aims to support software development by offering abstractions to a particular domain. It is expected that DSLs improve the maintainability of artifacts otherwise produced with general-purpose languages. However, the maintainability of the DSL artifacts and, hence, their adoption in mainstream development, is largely dependent on the usability of the language itself. Unfortunately, it is often hard to identify their usability strengths and weaknesses early, as there is no guidance on how to objectively reveal them. Usability is a multi-faceted quality characteristic, which is challenging to quantify beforehand by DSL stakeholders. There is even less support on how to quantitatively evaluate the usability of DSLs used in maintenance tasks. In this context, this paper reports a study to compare the usability of textual DSLs under the perspective of software maintenance. A usability measurement framework was developed based on the cognitive dimensions of notations. The framework was evaluated both qualitatively and quantitatively using two DSLs in the context of two evolving object-oriented systems. The results suggested that the proposed metrics were useful: (1) to early identify DSL usability limitations, (2) to reveal specific DSL features favoring maintenance tasks, and (3) to successfully analyze eight critical DSL usability dimensions. |
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Quantifying usability of domain-specific languages: An empirical study on software maintenanceA domain-specific language (DSL) aims to support software development by offering abstractions to a particular domain. It is expected that DSLs improve the maintainability of artifacts otherwise produced with general-purpose languages. However, the maintainability of the DSL artifacts and, hence, their adoption in mainstream development, is largely dependent on the usability of the language itself. Unfortunately, it is often hard to identify their usability strengths and weaknesses early, as there is no guidance on how to objectively reveal them. Usability is a multi-faceted quality characteristic, which is challenging to quantify beforehand by DSL stakeholders. There is even less support on how to quantitatively evaluate the usability of DSLs used in maintenance tasks. In this context, this paper reports a study to compare the usability of textual DSLs under the perspective of software maintenance. A usability measurement framework was developed based on the cognitive dimensions of notations. The framework was evaluated both qualitatively and quantitatively using two DSLs in the context of two evolving object-oriented systems. The results suggested that the proposed metrics were useful: (1) to early identify DSL usability limitations, (2) to reveal specific DSL features favoring maintenance tasks, and (3) to successfully analyze eight critical DSL usability dimensions.2018-01-16T22:59:01Z2015-01-01T00:00:00Z2015info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://repositorio.inesctec.pt/handle/123456789/6540http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2014.11.051engAlbuquerque,DCafeo,BGarcia,ABarbosa,SAbrahao,SAntónio Nestor Ribeiroinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2023-05-15T10:20:53Zoai:repositorio.inesctec.pt:123456789/6540Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T17:53:45.111023Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Quantifying usability of domain-specific languages: An empirical study on software maintenance |
title |
Quantifying usability of domain-specific languages: An empirical study on software maintenance |
spellingShingle |
Quantifying usability of domain-specific languages: An empirical study on software maintenance Albuquerque,D |
title_short |
Quantifying usability of domain-specific languages: An empirical study on software maintenance |
title_full |
Quantifying usability of domain-specific languages: An empirical study on software maintenance |
title_fullStr |
Quantifying usability of domain-specific languages: An empirical study on software maintenance |
title_full_unstemmed |
Quantifying usability of domain-specific languages: An empirical study on software maintenance |
title_sort |
Quantifying usability of domain-specific languages: An empirical study on software maintenance |
author |
Albuquerque,D |
author_facet |
Albuquerque,D Cafeo,B Garcia,A Barbosa,S Abrahao,S António Nestor Ribeiro |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Cafeo,B Garcia,A Barbosa,S Abrahao,S António Nestor Ribeiro |
author2_role |
author author author author author |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Albuquerque,D Cafeo,B Garcia,A Barbosa,S Abrahao,S António Nestor Ribeiro |
description |
A domain-specific language (DSL) aims to support software development by offering abstractions to a particular domain. It is expected that DSLs improve the maintainability of artifacts otherwise produced with general-purpose languages. However, the maintainability of the DSL artifacts and, hence, their adoption in mainstream development, is largely dependent on the usability of the language itself. Unfortunately, it is often hard to identify their usability strengths and weaknesses early, as there is no guidance on how to objectively reveal them. Usability is a multi-faceted quality characteristic, which is challenging to quantify beforehand by DSL stakeholders. There is even less support on how to quantitatively evaluate the usability of DSLs used in maintenance tasks. In this context, this paper reports a study to compare the usability of textual DSLs under the perspective of software maintenance. A usability measurement framework was developed based on the cognitive dimensions of notations. The framework was evaluated both qualitatively and quantitatively using two DSLs in the context of two evolving object-oriented systems. The results suggested that the proposed metrics were useful: (1) to early identify DSL usability limitations, (2) to reveal specific DSL features favoring maintenance tasks, and (3) to successfully analyze eight critical DSL usability dimensions. |
publishDate |
2015 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2015-01-01T00:00:00Z 2015 2018-01-16T22:59:01Z |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
http://repositorio.inesctec.pt/handle/123456789/6540 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2014.11.051 |
url |
http://repositorio.inesctec.pt/handle/123456789/6540 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2014.11.051 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
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info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
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application/pdf |
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reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação instacron:RCAAP |
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Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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RCAAP |
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RCAAP |
reponame_str |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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