Abstract As the scale and complexity have been increased in software systems, developers place more emphases on software engineering and system designs. Software architecture is evolved with update of softwares, and it plays a fundamental role in determining quality of software systems. Multifractal characteristics of software networks can reflect software quality. In this paper, we construct a software network from the dependencies between object classes, and gain a deep understanding of software through network analysis. To be specific, multifractal analysis of the software network is performed based on a modified box-covering algorithm that yields fewer boxes. We verify that software with different functions and dependencies is multifractal. Further, different versions of the software are compared to discover the evolution of the software architecture. The results show that the singularity of class dependencies decreases as the software is updated. This trend leads to a more specific division of functions between software modules. One of the visible advantages of our work is that it allows the characterization of software structures at the code level. The methodology and results of this paper provide new insights into the evaluation and design of large-scale software systems.
Meili Liu(刘美丽), Xiaogang Qi(齐小刚), and Hao Pan(潘浩) Multifractal analysis of the software evolution in software networks 2022 Chin. Phys. B 31 030501
[1] Martins L and Tony G 2005 IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng.46 346 [2] Wilfredo T 2000 Software Fault Tolerance:A Tutorial (NASA Langley Technical Report Server) [3] Myers and Christopher R 2003 Phys. Rev. E68 046116 [4] Ai J, Su W, Zhang S and Yang Y 2019 IEEE Trans. Rel.68 844 [5] Chong C Y and Lee S P 2015 J. Syst. Softw.110 28 [6] Yan D and Qi G N 2006 Acta Phys. Sin.55 3799 (in Chinese) [7] Ma Y T, He K Q, Li B and Liu J 2011 J. Softw.22 381 [8] Gao Y, Peng Y, Feng X, Chen D, Zhao W and Xu G 2012 J. Tsinghua Univ.52 1474 [9] Wang B Y and Lü J H 2013 J. Softw.24 2814 [10] Briand L C, Daly J W and Wust J 1999 Comput. Standards Interfaces21 165 [11] Kuang L, Zheng B, Li D, Li Y and Sun Y 2015 Sci. China Inf. Sci.58 1 [12] Song, Chao M, Havlin, Shlomo, Makse and A Hernán 2005 Nature433 392 [13] Concas G, Locci M F, Marchesi M, Pinna S and Turnu I 2006 Europhys. Lett.76 1221 [14] Concas G, Marchesi M, Murgia A, Pinna S and Tonelli R 2010 Proceedings of the 2010 ICSE Workshop on Emerging Trends in Software Metrics, May 4, 2010, Cape Town, South Africa, p. 24 [15] Turnu T, Concas G, Marchesi M and Tonelli R 2013 Inf. Sci.245 290 [16] Peitgen H O, Jürgens H and Saupe D 2004 Math. Gazette79 241 [17] Song C, Gallos L K, Havlin S and Makse H A 2007 J. Stat. Mech.2007 P03006 [18] Zhou W X, Jiang Z Q and Sornette D 2007 Physica A375 741 [19] Zheng W, You Q, Zhang Z and Pan H 2019 IEEE Access7 68522 [20] Chiranjib B, Hirok C, Argha D, Debasis G and Bikash S 2015 Nat. Hazards78 855 [21] Zhang Q, Xi X and Luo Z 2013 Chin. J. Sens. Actuators26 282 (in Chinese) [22] Liu H Z, Zhang X C and Zhang X 2020 Physica A545 123585 [23] Zhang X, Liu H Z, Zhao Y F and Zhang X C 2019 Physica A531 121790 [24] Wang J, Shang P and Cui X 2014 Phys. Rev. E89 032916 [25] David M T, Vargas F V, Chávez H L and Hernández C 2016 Expert Syst. Appl.62 373 [26] Mishra A, Bandyopadhyay J N and Jalan S 2021 Chaos, Solitons and Fractals144 110745 [27] Jiang Z Q, Xie W J, Zhou W X and Sornette D 2019 Rep. Prog. Phys.82 125901 [28] Zhang A H, Li X W, Su F G and Zhang Y 2015 Chin. Phys. Lett.32 90501 [29] Chidamber S R and Kemerer C F 1994 IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng.20 476 [30] Zheng W, Pan Q, Deng Y F, Zhao X K and Kang Z 2016 Chin. Phys. Lett.33 038901
Altmetric calculates a score based on the online attention an article receives. Each coloured thread in the circle represents a different type of online attention. The number in the centre is the Altmetric score. Social media and mainstream news media are the main sources that calculate the score. Reference managers such as Mendeley are also tracked but do not contribute to the score. Older articles often score higher because they have had more time to get noticed. To account for this, Altmetric has included the context data for other articles of a similar age.
