Software Re-Modularization Method Based on Many-Objective Function

Software evolution and continuous changes make maintenance difficult, reducing the quality of software structure and architecture. To cope with this challenge, re-modularization is used to promote the modular structure of software system by the re-grouping of software elements. In this paper, the proposed method recognizes various dependencies in terms of an objective function unlike what has been stated in some other methods. In this method, a search-based many-objective fitness function is proposed to formulate re-modularization as an optimization problem. The results of the proposed method have been compared to the effects of four other methods based on MQ and NED. The results show the proposed method improved re-modularization remarkably compared to others in terms of both MQ and NED criteria especially for smaller software. Therefore, the proposed method can be effective in redefining real-world applications.

Keywords:

Software , Re-modularization , Multi-objective function , Elements dependencies , Clustering , Search-based algorithm