Software Design
Main issues:
decompose system into parts
many attempts to measure the results
design as product design as process
Overview
Introduction
Design principles
Design methods
Conclusion
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 2
Programmer’s Approach to
Software Engineering
Skip requirements engineering and design
phases;
start writing code
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 3
Point to ponder
Is this the same as eXtreme Programming?
Or is there something additional in XP?
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 4
Why this programmer’s approach?
Design is a waste of time
We need to show something to the customer real
quick
We are judged by the amount of LOC/month
We expect or know that the schedule is too tight
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 5
However, ...
The longer you postpone coding, the sooner you’ll
be finished
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 6
Up front remarks
Design is a trial-and-error process
The process is not the same as the outcome of
that process
There is an interaction between requirements
engineering, architecting, and design
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 7
Software design as a “wicked” problem
There is no definite formulation
There is no stopping rule
Solutions are not simply true or false
Every wicked problem is a symptom of another
problem
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 8
Overview
Introduction
Design principles
Design methods
Conclusion
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 9
Design principles
Abstraction
Modularity, coupling and cohesion
Information hiding
Limit complexity
Hierarchical structure
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 10
Abstraction
procedural abstraction: natural consequence of
stepwise refinement: name of procedure denotes
sequence of actions
abstraction subproblems
time
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 11
Abstraction
data abstraction: aimed at finding a hierarchy in
the data
application-oriented
data structures
simpler data
general structure
data structures
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 12
Modularity
structural criteria which tell us something about
individual modules and their interconnections
cohesion and coupling
cohesion: the glue that keeps a module together
coupling: the strength of the connection between
modules
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 13
Types of cohesion
coincidental cohesion
logical cohesion
temporal cohesion
procedural cohesion
communicational cohesion
sequential cohesion
functional cohesion
data cohesion (to cater for abstract data types)
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 14
How to determine the cohesion type?
describe the purpose of the module in one sentence
if the sentence is compound, contains a comma or more
than one verb it probably has more than one function:
logical or communicational cohesion
if the sentence contains time-related words like “first”,
“then”, “after” temporal cohesion
if the verb is not followed by a specific object probably
logical cohesion (example: edit all data)
words like “startup”, “initialize” imply temporal cohesion
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 15
Types of coupling
content coupling
common coupling
external coupling
control coupling
stamp coupling
data coupling
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 16
Coupling levels are technology dependent
Data coupling assumes scalars or arrays, not
records
control coupling assumes passing of scalar data
nowadays:
modules may pass complex data structures
modules may allow some modules access to their data, and
deny nit to others (so there are many levels of visibility)
coupling need not be commutative (AQ may be data coupled
to B, while B is control coupled to A)
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 17
strong cohesion & weak coupling
simple interfaces
simpler communication
simpler correctness proofs
changes influence other modules less often
reusability increases
comprehensibility improves
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 18
Information hiding
each module has a secret
design involves a series of decision: for each
such decision, wonder who needs to know and
who can be kept in the dark
information hiding is strongly related to
abstraction: if you hide something, the user may abstract
from that fact
coupling: the secret decreases coupling between a module
and its environment
cohesion: the secret is what binds the parts of the module
together
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 19
Point to ponder
How many lines of code is this:
#include <stdio.h>
#define NULL 0
main ()
{
int i;
for (i=0;i<10;i++) printf(%d”,i);
}
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 20
Complexity
measure certain aspects of the software (lines of
code, # of if-statements, depth of nesting, …)
use these numbers as a criterion to assess a
design, or to guide the design
interpretation: higher value higher complexity
more effort required (= worse design)
two kinds:
intra-modular: inside one module
inter-modular: between modules
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 21
intra-modular
attributes of a single module
two classes:
measures based on size
measures based on structure
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 22
Sized-based complexity measures
counting lines of code
differences in verbosity
differences between programming languages
a:= b versus while p^ <> nil do p:= p^
Halstead’s “software science”, essentially
counting operators and operands
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 23
Software science basic entities
n1: number of unique operators
n2: number of unique operands
N1: total number of operators
N2: total number of operands
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 24
Example program
public static void sort(int x []) {
for (int i=0; i < [Link]-1; i++) {
for (int j=i+1; j < [Link]; j++)
{ operator, 1 occurrence
if (x[i] > x[j]) {
int save=x[i];
x[i]=x[j]; x[j]=save
}
}
} operator, 2 occurrences
}
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 25
operator # of occurrences
public 1
sort() 1
int 4
[] 7
{} 4
for {;;} 2
if () 1
= 5
< 2
… …
n1 = 17 N1 = 39
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 26
Example program
public static void sort(int x []) {
for (int i=0; i < [Link]-1; i++) {
for (int j=i+1; j < [Link]; j++)
{
if (x[i] > x[j]) {
int save=x[i];
x[i]=x[j]; x[j]=save
} operand, 2 occurrences
} operand, 2 occurrences
}
}
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 27
operand # of occurrences
x 9
length 2
i 7
j 6
save 2
0 1
1 2
n2 = 7 N2 = 29
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 28
Other software science formulas
size of vocabulary: n = n1 + n2
program length: N = N1 + N2
volume: V = N log2n
level of abstraction: L = V*/ V
approximation: L’ = (2/n1)(n2/N2)
programming effort: E = V/L
estimated programming time: T ’ = E/18
estimate of N: N ’ = n1log2n2 : n2log2n2
for this example: N = 68, N ’ = 89, L = .015, L’ = .028
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 29
Software science
empirical studies: reasonably good fit
critique:
explanations are not convincing
results from cognitive psychology used wrongly
is aimed at coding phase only; assumes this is an
uninterrupted concentrated activity
different definitions of “operand” and “operator”
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 30
Structure-based measures
based on
control structures
data structures
or both
example complexity measure based on data
structures: average number of instructions
between successive references to a variable
best known measure is based on the control
structure: McCabe’s cyclomatic complexity
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 31
1
Example program
2
3
public static void sort(int x []) {
for (int i=0; i < [Link]-1; i++) {
4
for (int j=i+1; j < [Link]; j++) {
if (x[i] > x[j]) {
5
int save=x[i];
x[i]=x[j]; x[j]=save
11
} 6
}
} 7
}
8
10
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 32
1
Cyclomatic complexity
2
e = number of edges (13)
n = number of nodes (11) 4
p = number of connected components (1) 5
11
CV = e - n + p + 1 (4) 6
10
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 33
Note: CV = e-n+p+1, CV e-n+2p
e-n+p+1 = 13-13+3+1 = 4
e-n+p+1 = e-n+2p = 4
e-n+2p = 6
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 34
Intra-modular complexity measures,
summary
for small programs, the various measures
correlate well with programming time
however, a simple length measure such as LOC
does equally well
complexity measures are not very context
sensitive
complexity measures take into account few
aspects
it might help to look at the complexity density
instead
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 35
System structure: inter-module complexity
looks at the complexity of the dependencies
between modules
draw modules and their dependencies in a graph
then the arrows connecting modules may denote
several relations, such as:
A contains B
A precedes B
A uses B
we are mostly interested in the latter type of
relation
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 36
The uses relation
In a well-structured piece of software, the
dependencies show up as procedure calls
therefore, this graph is known as the call-graph
possible shapes of this graph:
chaos (directed graph)
hierarchy (acyclic graph)
strict hierarchy (layers)
tree
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 37
In a picture:
chaos hierarchy
strict
hierarchy tree
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 38
Measurements
} size
# nodes
# edges
width
height
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 39
Deviation from a tree
hierarchy
strict
hierarchy tree
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 40
Tree impurity metric
complete graph with n nodes has n(n-1)/2 edges
a tree with n nodes has (n-1) edges
tree impurity for a graph with n nodes and e
edges:
m(G) = 2(e-n+1)/(n-1)(n-2)
this is a “good” measure, in the measurement
theory sense
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 41
Desirable properties of any tree impurity
metric
m(G) = 0 if and only if G is a tree
m(G1) > m(G2) if G1 = G2 + an extra edge
if G1 and G2 have the same # of “extra” edges wrt
their spanning tree, and G1 has more nodes than
G2, then m(G1) < m(G2)
m(G) m(Kn) = 1, where G has n nodes, and Kn is
the (undirected) complete graph with n nodes
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 42
Information flow metric
tree impurity metrics only consider the number of
edges, not their “thickness”
Henri & Kafura’s information flow metric takes
this “thickness” into account
based on notions of local and global flow
we consider a later variant, developed by
Shepperd
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 43
Shepperd’s variant of
information flow metric
there is a local flow from A to B if:
A invokes B and passes it a parameter
B invokes A and A returns a value
there is a global flow from A to B if A updates some
global structure and B reads that structure
fan-in(M) = # (local and global) flows whose sink is M
fan-out(M) = # (local and global) flows whose source
is M
complexity(M) = (fan-in(M) * fan-out(M)) 2
still, all flows count the same
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 44
Point to ponder:
What does this program do?
procedure X(A: array [1..n] of int);
var i, k, small: int;
begin
for i:= 1 to n do
small:= A[i];
for k:= i to n-1 do
if small <= A[k]
then swap (A[k], A[k+1])
end
end
end
end
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 45
The role of previously acquired knowledge
during design
programming plans, beacons
chunks
adverse influence of delocalized plans and false
beacons
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 46
Object-oriented metrics
WMC: Weighted Methods per Class
DIT: Depth of Inheritance Tree
NOC: Number Of Children
CBO: Coupling Between Object Classes
RFC: Response For a Class
LCOM: Lack of COhesion of a Method
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 47
Weighted Methods per Class
measure for size of class
WMC = c(i), i = 1, …, n (number of methods)
c(i) = complexity of method i
mostly, c(i) = 1
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 48
Depth of Class in Inheritance Tree
DIT = distance of class to root of its inheritance
tree
DIT is somewhat language-dependent
widely accepted heuristic: strive for a forest of
classes, a collection of inheritance trees of
medium height
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 49
Number Of Children
NOC: counts immediate descendants
higher values NOC are considered bad:
possibly improper abstraction of the parent class
also suggests that class is to be used in a variety of settings
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 50
Coupling Between Object Classes
two classes are coupled if a method of one class
uses a method or state variable of another class
CBO = count of all classes a given class is
coupled with
high values: something is wrong
all couplings are counted alike; refinements are
possible
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 51
Response For a Class
RFC measures the “immediate surroundings” of a
class
RFC = size of the “response set”
response set = {M} {Ri}
R1
M2
M1
M3
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 52
Lack of Cohesion of a Method
cohesion = glue that keeps the module (class)
together
if all methods use the same set of state variables:
OK, & that is the glue
if some methods use a subset of the state
variables, and others use another subset, the class
lacks cohesion
LCOM = number of disjoint sets of methods in a
class
two methods in the same set share at least one
state variable
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 53
OO metrics
WMC, CBO, RFC, LCOM most useful
Predict fault proneness during design
Strong relationship to maintenance effort
Many OO metrics correlate strongly with size
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 54
Overview
Introduction
Design principles
Design methods
Conclusion
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 55
Design methods
Functional decomposition
Data Flow Design (SA/SD)
Design based on Data Structures (JSD/JSP)
OO is gOOd, isn’t it
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 56
Sample of design methods
Decision tables OOD
E-R PDL
Flowcharts Petri Nets
FSM SA/SD
JSD SA/WM
JSP SADT
LCP SSADM
Meta IV Statecharts
NoteCards
OBJ
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 57
Functional decomposition
bottom-up top-down
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 58
Functional decomposition (cnt’d)
Extremes: bottom-up and top-down
Not used as such; design is not purely rational:
clients do not know what they want
changes influence earlier decisions
people make errors
projects do not start from scratch
Rather, design has a yo-yo character
We can only fake a rational design process
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 59
Data flow design
Yourdon and Constantine (early 70s)
nowadays version: two-step process:
Structured Analysis (SA), resulting in a logical design, drawn
as a set of data flow diagrams
Structured Design (SD) transforming the logical design into a
program structure drawn as a set of structure charts
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 60
Entities in a data flow diagram
external entities
processes
data flows
data stores
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 61
Top-level DFD: context diagram
direction request
library
management client
system
report ack’ment
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 62
First-level decomposition
client management
request
report direction
log data
prelim. prelim.
acknowledgement
doc doc
return
borrow
request
request log data
borrow prelim. log file
title doc
title title
catalog adm.
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 63
Second-level decomposition for
“preliminary processing”
data base log file
request client info log data
check OK
client process
data request
borrow return
not OK request request
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 64
Example minispec
Identification: Process request
Description:
1 Enter type of request
1.1 If invalid, issue warning and repeat step 1
1.2 If step 1 repeated 5 times, terminate transaction
2 Enter book identification
2.1 If invalid, issue warning and repeat step 2
2.2 If step 2 repeated 5 times, terminate transaction
3 Log client identification, request type and book
identification
4 ...
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 65
Data dictionary entries
borrow-request = client-id + book-id
return-request = client-id + book-id
log-data = client-id + [borrow | return] + book-id
book-id = author-name + title + (isbn) +
[proc | series | other]
Conventions:
[ ]: include one of the enclosed options
|: separates options
+: AND
(): enclosed items are optional
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 66
From data flow diagrams to structure charts
result of SA: logical model, consisting f a set of
DFD’s, augmented by minispecs, data dictionary,
etc.
Structured Design = transition from DFD’s to
structure charts
heuristics for this transition are based on notions
of coupling and cohesion
major heuristic concerns choice for top-level
structure chart, most often: transform-centered
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 67
Transform-centered design
A B D E F G
C H K
Do job
C D E F
A B G H
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 68
Design based on data structures
(JSP & JSD)
JSP = Jackson Structured Programming (for
programming-in-the-small)
JSD = Jackson Structured Design (for
programming-in-the-large)
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 69
JSP
basic idea: good program reflects structure of its
input and output
program can be derived almost mechanically from
a description of the input and output
input and output are depicted in a structure
diagram and/or in structured text/schematic logic
(a kind of pseudocode)
three basic compound forms: sequence, iteration,
and selection)
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 70
Compound components in JSP
sequence iteration selection
A A A
B C D B* Bo Co Do
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 71
A JSP example
input output
line * line *
until EOF
loop
read line
process line
write line
endloop
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 72
Another JSP example
input file
article
mutation
addition removal
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 73
Another JSP example (cnt’d)
output
heading body
net mutation
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 74
Another JSP example (cnt’d)
program
heading contents
do article and make row
do article make row
do mutation
do addition do removal
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 75
Structure clash
unsorted sorting sorted process
mutations program mutations mutations
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 76
Inversion
unsorted sorting sorted process
mutations program mutations mutations
write read
mutation mutation
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 77
Fundamental issues in JSP
Model input and output using structure diagrams
Merge diagrams to create program structure
Meanwhile, resolve structure clashes, and
Optimize results through program inversion
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 78
Difference between JSP and other methods
Functional decomposition, data flow design:
Problem structure functional structure
program structure
JSP:
Problem structure data structure
program structure
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 79
JSD:
Jackson Structured Design
Problem with JSP: how to obtain a mapping from
the problem structure to the data structure?
JSD tries to fill this gap
JSD has three stages:
modeling stage: description of real world problem in terms of
entities and actions
network stage: model system as a network of communicating
processes
implementation stage: transform network into a sequential
design
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 80
JSD’s modeling stage
JSD models the UoD as a set of entities
For each entity, a process is created which
models the life cycle of that entity
This life cycle is depicted as a process structure
diagram (PSD); these resemble JSP’s structure
diagrams
PSD’s are finite state diagrams; only the roles of
nodes and edges has been reversed: in a PSD, the
nodes denote transitions while the edges edges
denote states
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 81
OOAD methods
three major steps:
1 identify the objects
2 determine their attributes and services
3 determine the relationships between objects
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 82
(Part of) problem statement
Design the software to support the operation of a
public library. The system has a number of
stations for customer transactions. These stations
are operated by library employees. When a book
is borrowed, the identification card of the client is
read. Next, the station’s bar code reader reads the
book’s code. When a book is returned, the
identification card isnot needed and only the
book’s code needs to be read.
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 83
Candidate objects
software
library
system
station
customer
transaction
book
library employee
identification card
client
bar code reader
book’s code
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 84
Carefully consider candidate list
eliminate implementation constructs, such as “software”
replace or eliminate vague terms: “system” “computer”
equate synonymous terms: “customer” and “client”
“client”
eliminate operation names, if possible (such as
“transaction”)
be careful in what you really mean: can a client be a library
employee? Is it “book copy” rather than “book”?
eliminate individual objects (as opposed to classes).
“book’s code” attribute of “book copy”
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 85
Relationships
From the problem statement:
employee operates station
station has bar code reader
bar code reader reads book copy
bar code reader reads identification card
Tacit knowledge:
library owns computer
library owns stations
computer communicates with station
library employs employee
client is member of library
client has identification card
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 86
Result: initial class diagram
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 87
Usage scenario sequence diagram
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 88
OO as middle-out design
First set of objects becomes middle level
To implement these, lower-level objects are
required, often from a class library
A control/workflow set of objects constitutes the
top level
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 89
OO design methods
Booch: early, new and rich set of notations
Fusion: more emphasis on process
RUP: full life cycle model associated with UML
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 90
Booch’ method
identify classes and objects
identify semantics of classes and
objects
identify relationships between
classes and objects
identify interface and implementation
of classes and objects
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 91
Fusion
Analysis
object model
interface model
Design
object interaction
visibility graphs
graphs
class descriptions inheritance graphs
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 92
RUP
Nine workflows, a.o. requirements, analysis and
design
Four phases: inception, elaboration, construction,
transition
Analysis and design workflow:
First iterations: architecture discussed in ch 11
Next: analyze behavior: from use cases to set of design
elements; produces black-box model of the solution
Finally, design components: refine elements into classes,
interfaces, etc.
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 93
Classification of design methods
Simple model with two dimensions:
Orientation dimension:
Problem-oriented: understand problem and its solution
Product-oriented: correct transformation from specification to
implementation
Product/model dimension:
Conceptual: descriptive models
Formal: prescriptive models
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 94
Classification of design methods (cnt’d)
problem-oriented product-oriented
I II
conceptual ER modeling Structured design
Structured analysis
III IV
formal JSD Functional decomposition
VDM JSP
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 95
Characteristics of these classes
I: understand the problem
II: transform to implementation
III: represent properties
IV: create implementation units
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 96
Caveats when choosing a particular design
method
Familiarity with the problem domain
Designer’s experience
Available tools
Development philosophy
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 97
Object-orientation: does it work?
do object-oriented methods adequately capture
requirements engineering?
do object-oriented methods adequately capture
design?
do object-oriented methods adequately bridge the
gap between analysis and design?
are oo-methods really an improvement?
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 98
Design pattern
Provides solution to a recurring problem
Balances set of opposing forces
Documents well-prove design experience
Abstraction above the level of a single component
Provides common vocabulary and understanding
Are a means of documentation
Supports construction of software with defined
properties
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 99
Example design pattern: Proxy
Context:
Client needs services from other component, direct access
may not be the best approach
Problem:
We do not want hard-code access
Solution:
Communication via a representative, the Proxy
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 100
Example design pattern: Command Processor
Context:
User interface that must be flexible or provides functionality
beyond handling of user functions
Problem:
Well-structured solution for mapping interface to internal
functionality. All ‘extras’ are separate from the interface
Solution:
A separate component, the Command Processor, takes care
of all commands Actual execution of the command is
delegated
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 101
Antipatterns
Patterns describe desirable behavior
Antipatterns describe situations one had better
avoid
In agile approaches (XP), refactoring is applied
whenever an antipattern has been introduced
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 102
Example antipatterns
God class: class that holds most responsibilities
Lava flow: dead code
Poltergeist: class with few responsibilities and a
short life
Golden Hammer: solution that does not fit the
problem
Stovepipe: (almost) identical solutions at different
places
Swiss Army Knife: excessively complex class
interface
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 103
Overview
Introduction
Design principles
Design methods
Conclusion
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 104
Conclusion
Essence of the design process: decompose
system into parts
Desirable properties of a decomposition:
coupling/cohesion, information hiding, (layers of)
abstraction
There have been many attempts to express these
properties in numbers
Design methods: functional decomposition, data
flow design, data structure design, object-oriented
design
SE, Design, Hans van Vliet, ©2008 105