Can we Increase Software Development Productivity by an Order of Magnitude

Shayne Flint (School of Computer Science, ANU)

DATE: 2009-10-01
TIME: 16:00:00 - 17:00:00
LOCATION: CSIT Seminar Room, N101

ABSTRACT:
Demand for software developers is increasing while the number of software engineering and IT students remains stable or in decline. At the same time, there is an increasing need to quickly build software systems in response to rapid social, economic and environmental change. The CECS Software-Intensive Systems Engineering (SiSE) group is addressing these issues by developing novel technology which aims to increase software development productivity by an order of magnitude.

To achieve this objective we are exploring the use of Model- Driven Engineering (MDE) and ways to improve its effectiveness. Specifically, we are addressing problems in areas such as requirements and stakeholder management; integrating multiple viewpoints, cross-cutting concerns, modelling languages and paradigms; variations in architecture and implementation; model semantics, translation, synchronisation, evolution and reuse; the presence of uncertainty, imperfection and ambiguity; verification, scalability and visualisation. This is a long list, but our research indicates the possibility that many of these problems may be the result of entrenched assumptions that underpin existing approaches to MDE.

In this seminar I will demonstrate a new approach to MDE which we have developed from a very different set of assumptions. The approach is proving effective and addresses or eliminates many of the problems with existing approaches. If commercialised, it could have direct and demonstrable economic impact by increasing ICT industry productivity and our ability to rapidly react to emerging opportunities and threats.

BIO:
Shayne Flint is a senior lecturer in the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science. He started his career as a RAAF engineering officer and has worked in industry in various software/systems engineering, consulting, marketing, management and commercialisation roles. Nowadays, he is driven by a desire to radically improve the productivity of software development, particularly within multi-disciplinary contexts such as environmental science and engineering.

	Skip Navigation CECS Home \| ANU Home \| Search ANU \| HORUS \| Staff Home
	Seminars @ CECS ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science