Focus points for the Experimental Software Architecture group

The group focuses on software architecture and teaching methodology.

Software Architecture

The group has over the last decade built up research expertise within the area of software architecture. During this period, research within areas such as software configuration management, software reuse, product line architectures, architectural prototyping, and computer supported collaborative work as well as our continued commitment to working on projects in close collaboration with industrial partners, has served as a fertile and sound basis for studying architectural issues.

The group has made contributions within a broad range of architecture-related issues, including frameworks; patterns; reuse; processes; and architecture analysis, design, and development. Research is also conducted in embedded and distributed systems and issues regarding reliability, quality assurance, and object-oriented software safety.

Teaching Methodology

Today, introductory and advanced programming courses grounded in the object-oriented prespective are at the core of the curriculum, and the group has naturally been a principal teaching resource in these courses at Aarhus University. The group’s strong commitment to architectural issues, sound object-oriented design principles, and software flexibility and reliability has lead to novel initiatives in our teaching that have resulted in a significant number of contributions published at top international conferences. Work has also been made regarding flexible teaching methods and eLearning.

A recent initiative has been the development of  a teaching book to be publised by Chapmann Hall/CRC Press 2010: Flexible, Reliable Software – Using Patterns and Agile Development. The book's focus is on practices and techniques for building large scale reliable and flexible software and cover a broad spectrum of techniques ranging from test-driven development, over design patterns, to compositional design and frameworks.

History

The group has a long history at the department and was formerly called Object-Oriented Software System. Please consult the history link for a complete list of research areas and projects.