The Choice Calculus: A Representation for Software Variation

  • Authors:
  • Martin Erwig;Eric Walkingshaw

  • Affiliations:
  • Oregon State University;Oregon State University

  • Venue:
  • ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM)
  • Year:
  • 2011

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

Many areas of computer science are concerned with some form of variation in software---from managing changes to software over time to supporting families of related artifacts. We present the choice calculus, a fundamental representation for software variation that can serve as a common language of discourse for variation research, filling a role similar to the lambda calculus in programming language research. We also develop an associated theory of software variation, including sound transformations of variation artifacts, the definition of strategic normal forms, and a design theory for variation structures, which will support the development of better algorithms and tools.