A Controlled Experiment for Measuring the Impact of Aspect-Oriented Programming on Software Development Time

Bachelor Thesis , 2009 , 98 Pages , Grade: 1,0

Computer Science - Software

In this document, a controlled experiment on aspect-oriented programming that was performed in the context of my bachelor thesis is described and evaluated. The experiment was designed to make the overall performance of software developers using object-orientation and aspect-orientation on a number of tasks comparable. The primary focus of the experiment laid on whether aspect-orientation has a positive impact on the development time when comparing its performance with the performance of the object-oriented approach on the same task.

Table of Contents

Abstract

Zusammenfassung

Directory of Figures

Directory of Tables

Directory of Listings

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Motivation and Problem Description

3. Experiment Background
3.1. A short summary on Empiricism and Experimentation
3.1.1. What is meant by Empiricism?
3.1.2. Research and Experimentation methods
3.1.2.1. Case Studies or Benchmarks
3.1.2.2. Field Studies
3.1.2.3. Controlled Experiments
3.1.2.4. Polls
3.1.2.5. Meta-Studies
3.1.3. Empirical research in Software Engineering – Specifics and Dangers
3.2. Aspect-Oriented Programming
3.2.1. Aspect-Orientation in General
3.2.2. AspectJ – a short Introduction

4. The Experiment
4.1. Experiment Buildup
4.1.1. The planned Course of the Experiment
4.1.2. The Questionnaire
4.1.3. The Hard- and Software used in the Experiment
4.1.3.1. The Application used for Editing
4.1.3.2. The Development Environment and Hardware
4.1.4. The Tasks
4.1.4.1. Task1: The Logging Task
4.1.4.2. Task2: The Parameter Null Task
4.1.4.3. Task3: The Synchronization Task
4.1.4.4. Task4: The Check Player Argument Task
4.1.4.5. Task5: The Notify Observers Task
4.1.4.6. Task6: The Observers Null Check Task
4.1.4.7. Task7: The Refresh Constraint Task
4.1.4.8. Task8: The Label Value Check Task
4.1.4.9. Task9: The Current Level Check Task
4.2. Implementation of the Experiment

5. Experiment Analysis and Results
5.1. Data Processing and Preparation
5.2. Data analysis and presentation
5.2.1. The Logging Task
5.2.2. The Parameter Null Task
5.2.3. The Synchronization Task
5.2.4. The Player Check Task
5.2.5. The Notify Observers Task
5.2.6. The Observers Null Task
5.2.7. The Refresh Constraint Task
5.2.8. The Label Value Check Task
5.2.9. The Level Check Task
5.2.10. Results of the Development Times and Descriptive Statistics
5.2.11. Statistical Tests on the Results
5.2.12. Doing a Break-Even Analysis
5.2.13. Participant Grouping

6. Discussion
6.1. Thoughts on Validity
6.1.1. Internal Validity
6.1.2. External Validity
6.2. General Discussion

7. Related Work

8. Conclusion

9. Appendix
9.1. The questionnaire (German)
9.2. The aspect-oriented task descriptions (German)
9.3. The object-oriented task descriptions (German)

10. References

• College: University of Duisburg-Essen (Institute for Computer Science and Business Information Systems)
• Course: Informatik - Empirische Softwareforschung
• Grade: 1,0
• Author: Sebastian Kleinschmager (Author)
• Publication Year: 2009
• Pages: 98
• Catalog Number: V199337
• ISBN (eBook): 9783656317616
• ISBN (Book): 9783656318637
• Language: English
• Tags: Software, Empirie, Empirical Research, Software Engineering, Aspect-Oriented Programming, Aspektorientierung, Controlled Experiment, Softwareempirie, Programming, Programming Study, Java, AspectJ, Empirische Softwareforschung, Entwicklungsproduktivität, Developer Productivity, Softwareentwicklung, Kontrolliertes Experiment