[6-25]Theoretical and Empirical Foundations of Software Engineering
Date:2009-06-21
Title：Theoretical and Empirical Foundations of Software Engineering
Speaker：Prof. Yingxu Wang
Theoretical and Empirical Software Engineering Research Centre (TESERC)
International Center for Cognitive Informatics (ICfCI)
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Canada
Time：9：30 am, June 25
Venue：Lecture room, State Key Lab of Computer Science, Level 3 Building #5
Abstract：
Software engineering is an engineering discipline that studies how system behaviors and machine intelligence can be created and embodied by generic computers, approaches and methodologies of large-scale software development, and the theories and laws behind software behaviors and software engineering practices. Underpinning software engineering, software science is an emerging discipline that studies the nature of software as instructive and behavioral information, its denotational mathematic means, and laws of software such as those of informatics, mathematics, systems, organization, and intelligent behaviors [Wang, 2007]. This talk presents the theoretical and empirical foundations of software engineering and denotational mathematics for software science and engineering as well as their applications.
The theoretical framework of software engineering is systematically described encompassing software engineering constraints and measures, the generic mathematical model of programs, laws and formal principles of software engineering, and cognitive complexity of software. The contemporary denotational mathematics for software engineering is introduced, which is a category of mathematical structures for formalizing rigorous expressions and long-chain inferences of system compositions and behaviors with concepts, complex relations, and dynamic processes. Typical paradigms of denotational mathematics, such as concept algebra, system algebra, and Real-Time Process Algebra (RTPA), are presented. A wide range of applications of denotational mathematics has been identified in software science and engineering where complex and intricate mathematical entities and structures beyond numbers, Boolean variables, and simple sets have to be rigorously modeled and manipulated.
A fundamental and persistent problem in empirical software engineering is what the mechanisms and behaviors of coordinative work in groups and organizations are. In this talk, a coordinative work organization theory is systematically developed, a set of fundamental characteristics of coordinative work are analyzed, and the transformability and constraints between labor and time in software engineering is rigorously explained. Laws of coordinative work organization are created, which provide a foundation for the analyses and predications of the optimal labor allocation, the shortest project duration, and the lowest effort in coordinative project organization in software engineering. Case studies of the coordinative work organization theory are presented for rational decision optimizations in software engineering project organization and industrial practice.
Biography：
Yingxu Wang is professor of cognitive informatics and software engineering, Director of International Center for Cognitive Informatics (ICfCI), and Director of Theoretical and Empirical Software Engineering Research Center (TESERC) at the University of Calgary. He is a Fellow of WIF, a P.Eng of Canada, a Senior Member of IEEE and ACM, and a member of ISO/IEC JTC1 and the Canadian Advisory Committee (CAC) for ISO. He received a PhD in Software Engineering from the Nottingham Trent University, UK, in 1997, and a BSc in Electrical Engineering from Shanghai Tiedao University in 1983. He has industrial experience since 1972 and has been a full professor since 1994. He was a visiting professor in the Computing Laboratory at Oxford University in 1995, Dept. of Computer Science at Stanford University in 2008, and the Berkeley Initiative in Soft Computing (BISC) Lab at University of California, Berkeley in 2008, respectively. He is the founder and steering committee chair of the annual IEEE International Conference on Cognitive Informatics (ICCI). He is founding Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Cognitive Informatics and Natural Intelligence (IJCINI), founding Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Software Science and Computational Intelligence (IJSSCI), Associate Editor of IEEE Trans on System, Man, and Cybernetics (A), and Editor-in-Chief of CRC Book Series in Software Engineering.
Prof. Wang is the initiator of a number of cutting-edge research fields or subject areas such as cognitive informatics, abstract intelligence, cognitive computing, cognitive computers, denotational mathematics (i.e., concept algebra, system algebra, real-time process algebra, granular algebra, visual semantic algebra, fuzzy quantification/qualification, fuzzy inferences, and fuzzy causality analyses), software science (i.e., theoretical software engineering and mathematical laws of software engineering), coordinative work organization theory, deductive semantics, LRMB, the reference model of autonomous agent systems, cognitive complexity of software, and built-in tests (BITs). He has published over 115 peer reviewed journal papers, 193 peer reviewed full conference papers, and 12 books in cognitive informatics, software engineering, and computational intelligence. He is the recipient of dozens international awards on academic leadership, outstanding contributions, research achievement, best paper, and teaching in the last 30 years.