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Sustainable software architecture is crucial for the success of an evolving system that is affected by its context and environment. However, deviations between software design and implementation are often uncontrolled and induce architectural erosion. The literature describes several symptoms and observes this phenomenon in open source software. Prominent reasons for the occurrence of architectural erosion include a rushed evolution, recurring changes, a lack of developers' awareness, time pressures, and the accumulation of design decisions. Architectural erosion is also prevalent in academic projects, but it still needs to be researched in-depth in a real-life setting.
In this work, a single case study investigates the symptoms and reasons for architectural erosion in open source software originating from academia by employing a mixed-methods approach. Architectural metrics from a static code analysis using ARCADE Core are contrasted with developers' perspectives sourced from semistructured interviews. The investigated project is JackTrip, a cross-platform application for realtime networked music performances and Internet reverberation research.
The first research question aims at assessing the trend of structural symptoms for architectural erosion in JackTrip. The results show a significant increase in link overload smells in the course of the evolution, which reached 11 as of version 1.6.2. This supports the developers' perception of a rushed evolution corresponding to the second research question, which asks to what extent prominent causes for architectural erosion apply. Additionally, the interview data evince time constraints related to tight research funding and the commercialization of the project. Research question 3 investigates how the academic environment and the problem domain relate to the symptoms and reasons for architecture erosion. It has been found that these influences shape the development approach and impact contributor selection.
In relation to a certain inexperience and lack of commitment of open source developers as a reason for architectural erosion, the results suggest further studies and opt for ending the discussion regarding skills. Currently, the role of an architect or dedicated architectural work does not seem to be present in the JackTrip project. However, structural issues described in this work should not be considered as categorical statements about its software architecture as they would need to be confirmed on a code level.
This dissertation, written for the course Master of European Social Policy Analysis – National University of Ireland Maynooth - , shows the context or so-called framework within which the medical social work service in two different welfare states: Ireland and Germany operates. This means the societal context as a whole, the health system in general (macro-level) and the hospital setting (mezzo-level) in particular. The idea of this publication is to give a short overview of the historic development of medical social work (micro-level) in Ireland and Germany and some background information about what medical social work is. The time frame examined starts from the 1980s up to present. The main questions to be answered are: What are the interdependencies between the macro-, mezzo- and micro-level? Have changes in the health system in general and the hospitals in particular influenced medical social work and if so how? What are the similarities and differences in the two countries?