Premium
Reverse engineering a legacy software in a complex system: A systems engineering approach
Author(s) -
Moraga Maximiliano,
Zhao YangYang
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2018.00546.x
Subject(s) - legacy system , reverse engineering , software engineering , software system , social software engineering , computer science , software development , software construction , software maintenance , software , component based software engineering , systems engineering , engineering , operating system
In a complex system, a legacy software as a component is determined by various factors beyond its own capability. Lack of knowledge that shaped software, which is often the case of a legacy software, can prohibit appropriate maintenance and development to comply with the system needs. To reverse engineering legacy software for a fit with the overall system of interest is a daunting task. Existing techniques of reverse engineering are mostly from a purely technical point of view and for the single discipline of software engineering. Thus, this paper aims for an approach to properly reverse engineer the reasoning behind the legacy software developments in a complex system. By jointly apply the CAFCR model and the reverse engineering, a roadmap is created to guide incremental developments of legacy software in a complex system, which benefits both the maintenance of existing implementation and realization of new functionalities for improved system performance.