COMP-REF: A technique to guide the delegation of responsibilities to components in software systems

Abstract

In software systems, components collaborate to collectively fulfill requirements. A key concern of software design is the delegation of responsibilities to components such that user needs are most expediently met. This paper presents the COMP-REF technique based on a set of metrics and Linear Programming (LP) to guide the allocation of responsibilities of a system's components. We define the metrics Aptitude Index, Requirement Set, and Concordance Index to extract some design characteristics and use these metrics in an optimization algorithm. Results from experimental validation of the COMP-REF technique across a range of software systems are reported. We also discuss future directions of work in extending the scope of technique. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.