Implicit context: easing software evolution and reuse

Software systems should consist of simple, conceptually clean software components interacting along narrow, well-defined paths. All too often, this is not reality: complex components end up interacting for reasons unrelated to the functionality they provide. We refer to knowledge within a component that is not conceptually required for the individual behaviour of that component as extraneous embedded knowledge (EEK). EEK creeps into a system in many forms, including dependences upon particular names and the passing of extraneous parameters. This paper proposes the use of implicit context as a means for reducing EEK in systems by combining a mechanism to reflect upon what has happened in a system, through queries on the call history, with a mechanism for altering calls to and from a component. We demonstrate the benefits of implicit context by describing its use to reduce EEK in the JavaTM Swing library. Categories and Subject Descriptors D.1 [Software]: Programming Techniques; D.2....

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2000
• Where: SIGSOFT
• Authors: Robert J. Walker, Gail C. Murphy
• Keywords: Extraneous Embedded Knowledge, Implicit Context, SIGSOFT 2000, Software Engineering