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Reverse Engineering on the Mainframe: Lessons Learned from "In Vivo" Research
July/August 2010 (vol. 27 no. 4)
pp. 30-36
ASCII Text
x 
 
Joris Van Geet, Serge Demeyer, "Reverse Engineering on the Mainframe: Lessons Learned from "In Vivo" Research," IEEE Software, vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 30-36, July/August, 2010.
 
 
BibTex
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@article{ 10.1109/MS.2010.65,
author = {Joris Van Geet and Serge Demeyer},
title = {Reverse Engineering on the Mainframe: Lessons Learned from "In Vivo" Research},
journal ={IEEE Software},
volume = {27},
number = {4},
issn = {0740-7459},
year = {2010},
pages = {30-36},
doi = {http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MS.2010.65},
publisher = {IEEE Computer Society},
address = {Los Alamitos, CA, USA},
}
 
 
RefWorks Procite/RefMan/Endnote
x 
 
TY - MGZN
JO - IEEE Software
TI - Reverse Engineering on the Mainframe: Lessons Learned from "In Vivo" Research
IS - 4
SN - 0740-7459
SP30
EP36
EPD - 30-36
A1 - Joris Van Geet,
A1 - Serge Demeyer,
PY - 2010
KW - feature location
KW - software visualization
KW - industrial experience
KW - software engineering
KW - software
VL - 27
JA - IEEE Software
ER -
 
Joris Van Geet, University of Antwerp, Antwerp
Serge Demeyer, University of Antwerp University of Antwerp, Antwerp Antwerpen
Despite growth in the popularity of desktop systems, Web applications, and mobile computing, mainframe systems remain the dominant force in large-scale enterprise computing. Although they're sometimes referred to as "the dinosaurs of computing," even mainframe systems must adapt to changing circumstances to survive. Although reverse-engineering and reengineering techniques can help identify and achieve these adaptations, current techniques are mainly geared mainly toward more modern environments, languages, and platforms. It remains to be seen whether successful techniques can be easily transferred to a mainframe context. This article reports on the application of two proven reverse-engineering techniques (software visualization and feature location) in the context of mainframe systems. The authors conclude that these techniques remain viable but become very labor intensive when implemented on a per-project basis.

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Index Terms:
feature location, software visualization, industrial experience, software engineering, software
Citation:
Joris Van Geet, Serge Demeyer, "Reverse Engineering on the Mainframe: Lessons Learned from "In Vivo" Research," IEEE Software, vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 30-36, July-Aug. 2010, doi:10.1109/MS.2010.65
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