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BridgingtheGapbetween

AcademiaandIndustry

StevensAwardLecture

byHarryM.Sneed

attheCSMR2009Kaiserslautern,Germany

March25th,2009

CSMR2009

StructureoftheLecture

1)Thecurrentstatusofcooperationbetween

AcademiaandIndustry

2)Thereasonsbehindthegapbetween

AcademiaandIndustry

3)Theconsequencesofthegap

4)Whatcanbedonetoclosethegap

5)Suggestionsforfuturecooperation

betweenAcademiaandIndustry

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CurrentStatusofCooperationbetweenAcademiaandIndustry

Asseenfromthesideofindustry:

IndustrialUsersaredrivenbytheirvendorsandtheITmedia(newspapersandmagazines)

Industrialparticipationinacademicconferenceshasbeendecliningforyears(ICSE,ICSMandCSMRaregoodexamplesofthis).

Industryfeelsthatthereislittleitcanlearnfromacademia

especiallyinthefieldsofmaintenanceandreengineering. IndustrialITpersonneldonotaccessacademicjournals.

IndustrialITusersarenotawareofwhatacademicshavetooffer

ITmanagersdistrustacademicians,theybelievetheyonlywanttoexperimentattheirexpense.

CSMR20092

CurrentStatusofCooperation

betweenAcademiaandIndustry

AsseenfromthesideofAcademia

Academicsaredrivenbytheirconferencesandtechnical

journalsandtheirneedtopublish.

Academicsseldomattendindustrialconferencesastheyfeel

thisisbelowtheirstandard.

Academicslookdownuponindustrialnewspapersand

magazines.

Academicsarenotawareoftheproblemsandconstraintsof

industry.

AcademicsdistrustITmanagers,whotheybelieveonlywant

toexploitthemtoachievetheirbusinessgoals.

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CounterExamplesExceptionsconfirmtheRules

Whereindustryandacademiaworkbesttogetheriswheretheyareone.

Thishappenswhenacademicsfoundindustrialcompaniestoexploittheirideas.Googleisagoodexampleofthis.

Italsohappenswhenindustryfinanceslaboratoriesinanacademicenvironment.TheUBSLab attheETHZrichisagoodexampleofthat.

ThereareinstitutionswhichcombinebothsidesliketheFrauenhofer InstituteinKaiserslauternandMaryland.

TheTUMunichismakingaconcentratedefforttogetinvolvedinindustrialprojectsinmaintenance,testandreengineering.

Unfortunately,mostofthecurrentsoftwareindustryleadersgrewupwithoutacademicinvolvement(IBM,MicroSoft,Oracle,SAP).Latertheytriedtocompensatethatbyinstallingtheirownresearchlabs,butthespiritoftheseorganizationsisbasicallyantiacademic.

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ReasonsbehindtheGapbetween

AcademiaandIndustry

AcademicsandIndustrialistshaveadifferentmindset,theyare livingin

differentworlds.

AcademicsandIndustrialistsarepursuingdifferentgoals.TheAcademicis

strivingforrecognitionfromhispeers.TheIndustrialistisstrivingto

survive.

Industrythinksintermsofshortrangegoals,Academiahasalongrange

perspective. Industryprefersprovensolutionswithalowrisk,Academiaisinterested

increatingnewsolutionswithahighinnovationrate.

Industryseeksforaminimumsolutiontominimizetheirriskwhereas

academiastrivesforamaximumsolutiontomaximizetheirrecognition.

Industryismainlyconcernedwithcosts.Academiacouldcarelessabout

costs,itismainlyinterestedinthebenefits.

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Reverse&ReengineeringasagoodExampleof

theGapbetweenAcademiaandIndustry

Industryhastomaintainahugeamountoflegacysoftware(over75%ofallsoftwareislegacysoftware).Itisnotparticularlyconcernedwiththequalityofthatsoftware.Itismainlyconcernedwithfindingpersonneltomaintainitandwithmigratingittonewplatforms.

Academicsareconcernedwithimprovingthequalityoflegacysoftware,i.e.inreengineeringratherthan

migration.Partofthatefforttoimprovethequalityoflegacysystemsisreverseengineering,atermconfusingtoindustrialusers,whodontperceivewhatitisgoodfor.Contrarytotheacademicbelief,reverseengineeringisnotaprerequisitetotransformingorwrappingcode,sincethisisalmostalwaysanautomatedprocess.

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WhyindustryrejectsReverse&

ReengineeringTechnology

Industrialusersareunwillingtobuyintoreengineering,i.e.raisingthequalityoftheirexistingsoftware,withoutknowingbeforehandwhatsavingsthatwillbringthem.Academiaisnotabletoguaranteethemthat.

IndustrialusersarenotwillingtofinanceareengineeringprojectwithoutknowingbeforehandwhattheROIwillbe.

AcademicsarenotabletocalculateaROIbecausetheydonothavethedatatoquantifythebenefits.

Asaresult,itisdifficulttosellreengineeringandreverseengineeringprojects.Theseactivitiescanonlybecarriedoutwithinthescopeofthemaintenancebudgetwhichishardlyenoughtocoverthechangesandcorrections.Reverseandreengineeringare,incontrasttomaintenanceandmigration,oftenneglectedactivitiesinindustry,whereasinAcademia,theyreceivealotofattention.

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WhatIndustryislookingforconcerningtheirlegacysystems

Thereisaneedforbrowserstosearchthroughexistingcodetofind

dependencies.

Thereisaneedforimpactanalysistoidentifywhathastobechanged.

Thereisaneedformetricstoestimatethecostsofchange.

Thereisaneedformetricstoidentifyerrorpronecomponents.

Thereisaneedfortoolstoautomaticallyconvertoldlanguages intonew

oneswhilepreservingthefunctionalityofthesystem.

Thereisaneedfortoolstotransformdatafromonedatabaseto another.

Thereisaneedfortoolstowrapexistingcomponents,dataand

proceduresforreuseinotherenvironments.

Thesuccessofamigrationproject transformationorwrapping iseasily

measured.Eitheritworksinthenewenvironmentoritdoesnt.Thisisnot

trueofareverseorreengineeringproject,wherethegoalisaquality

improvement.Theremustbeawaytomeasurequalityimprovement.

CSMR20098

OntheDiscrepancybetweenSupply

andDemandinSoftwareMaintenance

Itisobviousthattheacademiccommunityspendstoomucheffortonsubjectsthatarenotrelevanttoindustryandtoolittleeffortonrelevantsubjects.Thus,theofferingsofacademiadonotmatchtothedemandsofindustry.Toavoidthismismatch,academiashouldstudytherequirementsofindustry.

Ontheotherhand,industryisoftennotawareofwhattheyreallyneed.Industrymustbeeducatedastotheinfluencethatcomplexityandqualityhaveonthecostsofmaintenanceandmigration.Theymustalsolearnwhatispossibleandwhatisnot.Itwouldbethetaskofacademiatoeducateindustry.

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ConsequencesoftheGap

AcademiaandIndustrytendtodriftapart

Academicsliveintheirownworld,theyfirstinventsolutions,thenthey

searchforaproblemthatfitstoit.Theyarereluctanttodeal withreal

worldproblems,sincetheseareusuallywicked.Asaconsequence much

oftheireffortiswastedontoyproblems.

Academiaisnotteachingstudentswhattheyneedtoknowabout

maintainingandevolvingexistingsystems.

Industryusersletthemselvesbemanipulatedbyscruplesvenderswho

likedrugdealersarebentonmakingtheircustomersdependent.Their

inabilitytodecideforthemselvesisduetotheirlackofeducationand

theirlackoftrustintheacademiccommunity.

Industrysuffersfromalackofawarenessastohowtheycouldapproach

theirproblems.Theydonotknowwhattoolsandtechniquesfrom

academiacouldhelpthem.Theyalsosufferfromalackofstandardization

andtheabilitytoobjectivelycomparealternatesolutions.

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ClosingtheGapbetween

IndustryandAcademia

MeasuresforclosingthegapbetweenAcademiaand

Industry Academiciansshouldtakepartinindustrialprojects

Professorsshouldbegivensabbaticalstoworkasmaintenanceprogrammers

Practitionersshouldattendcoursesattheuniversitiestorefresh

theirknowledge Thereshouldbecommonconferencestoappealtobothsidesin

whichtherearetwodifferentstandardsforselectingpapers

AccordingtoapollbytheIEEESoftware,bothsidesseekastrongercollaboration,howeverforthatweneedabettermutualunderstanding.

Thereneedstobeacommonlanguage,i.e.setofterms

Thereneedstobeastandardsetofmetricstomeasuresoftwaresystemsandprojects.

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TowardsaCommonLanguageStepstowardabettermutualunderstanding

Thelanguageusedbyacademiciansshouldbe

understandabletopractitioners

Reengineering&ReverseEngineeringaregoodexamples

ReverseEngineeringmeanstoapractitionerpost

documentinghissystemasopposedtopredocumentingit.

Reengineeringcouldmeanmanythings renovating,

restructuring,refactoring,etc.Oneshouldbespecific. Migrationneedstobekeptapartfromreengineering.

Itwouldbebetternottousethetermsreengineeringand

reverseengineeringatallsincetheyareconfusing.Theyhave

beenmisusedtodenotetoomanyquitedifferentactivities,

likebusinessreengineering,businessprocessreengineering

architecturalreengineeringandcodereengineering.

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TeachingSoftwareMaintenance Softwaremaintenanceshouldbetaughtonrealsoftware

systemsfromindustry

Studentshavetocorrecterrorsinbothproceduraland

objectorientedprograms

Studentshavetomakechangestobothproceduraland

objectorientedprograms

Studentshavetoredocumentbothproceduralandobjectorientedsystems

Studentshavetorestructureproceduralprogramsand

refactorOOcomponents

Studentshaveestimatethecostsofmaintenancetasks

Studentshavetodesignproblemreportsandchangerequests

Studentshavetodesignamaintenanceprocessforeachtype

ofmaintenancetask

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TeachingSoftwareMigration

SoftwareMigrationshouldbetaughtonareallegacysoftwareapplication

Studentsshouldmeasurethelegacyapplicationandcalculatethecostsofalternatemigrationstrategies

StudentsshouldhavetotransformlegacyproceduralcodetoamodernOOlanguage

Studentsshouldhavetowraplegacymodulesandconvertthemoverintowebservices

Studentsshouldhavetoconvertoldmasterfilesoverintorelationaldatabases

StudentsshouldhavetotransferolddatainterfacefilesoverintoXMLfiles

Studentsshouldhavetoperformaregressiontestuponthemigratedsystem

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ExpressingSoftwarewithNumbersTheroleofmeasurementinincreasingmutual

understanding

Weshouldstrivetoexpresssoftwareintermsofnumbersunderstandabletobothacademiciansandpractitioners

Thereneedstobeacommonunderstandingofwhatis

size,whatiscomplexityandwhatisqualityinsoftware. Thereneedstobeametricstandardformeasuring

quality,complexityandproductivity

Softwaresystems,developedindifferentmodesandlanguageshavetobecomparable.

Thereshouldbeestimationtechniquesaimeddirectlyatestimatingmaintenanceandmigrationprojects.

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SuggestionsforfutureCooperation

Conductcommonconferenceswithadoublestandardforpaperacceptance.

Firmsshouldinvitelocaluniversitiestoparticipateinindustrialprojects.

Universitiesshouldoffercontinualeducationprogramsoneveningsandweekends.

Academiaandindustryshouldstrivetofindacommonvocabularybymeansofstandardization.

Academiashouldofferindustryasimplesetofmetricswithwhichtheycanmeasuretheirquality,complexityandproductivity.

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