Software Engineering Tools
Software development has seen an increase in globally dispersed teams. Global software engineering is distributed engineering at its maximum dispersion.
CDE - collaborative development environment
Distance Creates Problems
- geographical distance, temporal distance, socio-cultural distance.
- Loss of synchronous communication and team interaction
- Control and coordination breakdown
- Loss of communication - Richest interaction is face-to-face
- Loss of team spirit and trust
- Cultural differences
Tooling Categories
| Tool category | Abbreviation | Tool examples | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software requirement tools | SRT | requirements modelling tools for eliciting (pulling out), analyzing, specifying and validating requirements | |
| Software design tools | SDT | Creating and checking software designs | |
| Software construction tools | SCT | Program editors, compilers, code generators, interpretters and debuggers | |
| Software testing tools | STT | Test generators, text execution frameworks, test evaluation tools, test management tools, performance analysis tools | |
| Software maintenance tools | SMT | visualisation tools, reengineering tools | |
| Software configuration management tools | SCMT | defect, enhancement, issue and problem tracking, version management, release and build tools | Sharing of software artefacts in a controlled manner and keep track of issues, features and requests in the form of tickets |
| Software engineering management tools | SEMT | project planning and tracking, risk management and measurement | |
| Software engineering process tools | SEPT | process modelling, process management, integrated CASE environments, process-centered SE environements | |
| Software quality tools | SQT | review and audit, static analysis, inspection tools | |
| Miscellaneous tool issues | MTI | meta tools, integration tools (tools that integrate several tools) | |
| Knowledge management tools | KMT | knowledge lifecycle processes, wiki’s, document management, blog | |
| Virtual meeting tools | VTM | video conference/ virtual rooms | |
| Socio-cultural tools | SCT | social networks | |
| Build tools | n/a | remote repositories and workflows | workflows entail continuous integrations, compiling binaries, invoking test frameworks, deploying to production systems, sending email notifications |
References
- Tools used in Global Software Engineering - A systematic mapping review
- Collaboration Tools for Global Software Engineering