Ademar Aguiar

Abstract
Application frameworks are a powerful technique for large-scale reuse, but require a considerable effort to understand them. Good documentation is costly, as it needs to address different audiences with disparate learning needs. When code and documentation prove insuficient, developers turn to their network of experts. Nevertheless, this proves difficult, mainly due to the lack of expertise awareness (who to ask), wasteful interruptions of the wrong people and unavailability ( either due to intrusion or time constraints). The DRIVER platform is a collaborative learning environment where framework users can, in a non-intrusive way, store and share their learning knowledge while following the best practices of framework understanding (patterns). Developed by the authors, it provides a framework documentation repository, mounted on a wiki, where the learning paths of the community of learners can be captured, shared, rated, and recommended. Combining these social activities, the DRIVER platform promotes collaborative learning, mitigating intrusiveness, unavailability of experts and loss of tacit knowledge. This paper presents the assessment of DRIVER using a controlled academic experiment that measured the performance, effectiveness and framework knowledge intake of MSc students. The study concluded that, especially for novice learners, the platform allows for a faster and more effective learning process.

Abstract

Abstract
By designing systems as sets of modules that can be composed into larger applications, developers unleash a multitude of advantages. The promise of AOP (Aspect-Oriented Programming) is to enable developers to organize crosscutting concerns into separate units of modularity making it easier to accomplish this vision. However, AOP does not allow unit tests to be untangled, which impairs the development of properly tested independent modules. This paper presents a technique that enables developers to encapsulate crosscutting concerns using AOP and still be able to develop reusable unit tests. Our approach uses incremental testing and invasive aspects to modify and adapt tests. The approach was evaluated in a medium scale project with promising results. Without using the proposed technique, due to the presence of invasive aspects, some unit tests would have to be discarded or modified to accommodate the changes made by them. This would have a profound impact on the overall modularity and, in particular, on the reusability of those modules. We will show that this technique enables proper unit tests that can be reused even when coupled with aspect-oriented code.

Abstract

Abstract
Application frameworks are a powerful technique for large-scale reuse but often very hard to learn from scratch. Although good documentation helps on reducing the learning curve, it is often found lacking, and costly, as it needs to attend different audiences with disparate learning needs. When code and documentation prove insufficient, developers turn to their network of experts. The lack of awareness about the experts, interrupting the wrong people, and experts unavailability are well known hindrances to effective collaboration. This paper presents the DRIVER platform, a collaborative learning environment for framework users to share their knowledge. It provides the documentation on a wiki, where the learning paths of the community of learners can be captured, shared, rated, and recommended, thus tapping into the collective knowledge of the community of framework users. The tool can be obtained at http://bit.ly/driverTool. © 2015 IEEE.