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An Experiment on Self-configuring Database Queries

  • Conference paper
Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering (ENASE 2013)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 417))

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Abstract

Database access is in the core of many software systems. When building an object-oriented system with a relational backend, a common approach is to use an object-to-relational mapping component to make the relational database oblivious to the application programmer.

Self-configuring database queries is a way to reduce the effect of internal dependencies within a software. To assess its usability, we organized a randomized, controlled study for software engineering students, who were given a number of maintenance tasks on a sample software with two versions: the first one using transparent persistency as a control group and the second using self-configuring queries.

Although the attendees in both groups used equal time in completing the tasks, it turned out that the group using self-configuring queries outperformed the control group in code quality by a factor of three. This gives us evidence to believe that self-configuration in a software’s architecture can be beneficial for maintainability.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki, Finland

    Pietu Pohjalainen

Authors
  1. Pietu Pohjalainen
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. INSTICC and IPS, Estefanilha, Setúbal, Portugal

    Joaquim Filipe

  2. Department of Computing, Macquarie University, 2109,, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Leszek A. Maciaszek

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Pohjalainen, P. (2013). An Experiment on Self-configuring Database Queries. In: Filipe, J., Maciaszek, L.A. (eds) Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering. ENASE 2013. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 417. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54092-9_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54092-9_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-54091-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-54092-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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