Delegated vs. Centralized Control in Software Designs

This is a different type of discussion assignment. You will be making your first post but not necessarily responding to others posts. Instead we will discuss your posts in class and then you will repost to incorporate the discussion we had in class. Post your comments and questions to the D5 Discussion.

This discussion assignment asks you to read and comment on the following paper: E. Arisholm and D. Sjoberg, Evaluating the effect of a delegated versus centralized control style on the maintainability of object-oriented software. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Vol. 30, N. 8, 2004, pp. 521-534. This paper describes a controlled experiment to evaluate the maintainability of a two alternative design styles: delegated control and centralized.

Part A (6 points)

1. Read the controlled experiment paper. Consider the experimental design and how it was carried out.
   • Are appropriate subjects used?
   • What are the study's risks to validity?
   • Do you agree with the results?
   • How could the experiment be better designed?
   • Could similar results be obtained via a survey or case study?
   • What makes this paper difficult (or easy) to read?

2. Post 3-5 relevant comments and questions concerning the paper.

Part B (4 points)

1. Respond to the in-class and on-line discussion of the paper. Have you changed your opinion of the paper after the in-class discussion and further review of the paper and comments?

Grading Policy

You must actively participate in the discussion to get a grade.