Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/3396
Title: A multiple hill climbing approach to software module clustering
Authors: Mahdavi, K
Harman, M
Hierons, RM
Keywords: Module clustering;Search based software engineering;Hill climbing
Issue Date: 2003
Publisher: IEEE
Citation: 19th IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance (ICSM 2003), Amsterdam, pp 315-324, Sep 2003
Abstract: Automated software module clustering is important for maintenance of legacy systems written in a 'monolithic format' with inadequate module boundaries. Even where systems were originally designed with suitable module boundaries, structure tends to degrade as the system evolves, making re-modularization worthwhile. This paper focuses upon search-based approaches to the automated module clustering problem, where hitherto, the local search approach of hill climbing has been found to be most successful. In the paper we show that results from a set of multiple hill climbs can be combined to locate good 'building blocks' for subsequent searches. Building blocks are formed by identifying the common features in a selection of best hill climbs. This process reduces the search space, while simultaneously 'hard wiring' parts of the solution. The paper reports the results of an empirical study that show that the multiple hill climbing approach does indeed guide the search to higher peaks in subsequent executions. The paper also investigates the relationship between the improved results and the system size.
URI: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/3396
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ICSM.2003.1235437
Appears in Collections:Computer Science
Dept of Computer Science Research Papers
Software Engineering (B-SERC)

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