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BridgingtheGapbetween
AcademiaandIndustry
StevensAwardLecture
byHarryM.Sneed
attheCSMR2009Kaiserslautern,Germany
March25th,2009
CSMR2009
StructureoftheLecture
1)Thecurrentstatusofcooperationbetween
AcademiaandIndustry
2)Thereasonsbehindthegapbetween
AcademiaandIndustry
3)Theconsequencesofthegap
4)Whatcanbedonetoclosethegap
5)Suggestionsforfuturecooperation
betweenAcademiaandIndustry
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CurrentStatusofCooperationbetweenAcademiaandIndustry
Asseenfromthesideofindustry:
IndustrialUsersaredrivenbytheirvendorsandtheITmedia(newspapersandmagazines)
Industrialparticipationinacademicconferenceshasbeendecliningforyears(ICSE,ICSMandCSMRaregoodexamplesofthis).
Industryfeelsthatthereislittleitcanlearnfromacademia
especiallyinthefieldsofmaintenanceandreengineering. IndustrialITpersonneldonotaccessacademicjournals.
IndustrialITusersarenotawareofwhatacademicshavetooffer
ITmanagersdistrustacademicians,theybelievetheyonlywanttoexperimentattheirexpense.
CSMR20092
CurrentStatusofCooperation
betweenAcademiaandIndustry
AsseenfromthesideofAcademia
Academicsaredrivenbytheirconferencesandtechnical
journalsandtheirneedtopublish.
Academicsseldomattendindustrialconferencesastheyfeel
thisisbelowtheirstandard.
Academicslookdownuponindustrialnewspapersand
magazines.
Academicsarenotawareoftheproblemsandconstraintsof
industry.
AcademicsdistrustITmanagers,whotheybelieveonlywant
toexploitthemtoachievetheirbusinessgoals.
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CounterExamplesExceptionsconfirmtheRules
Whereindustryandacademiaworkbesttogetheriswheretheyareone.
Thishappenswhenacademicsfoundindustrialcompaniestoexploittheirideas.Googleisagoodexampleofthis.
Italsohappenswhenindustryfinanceslaboratoriesinanacademicenvironment.TheUBSLab attheETHZrichisagoodexampleofthat.
ThereareinstitutionswhichcombinebothsidesliketheFrauenhofer InstituteinKaiserslauternandMaryland.
TheTUMunichismakingaconcentratedefforttogetinvolvedinindustrialprojectsinmaintenance,testandreengineering.
Unfortunately,mostofthecurrentsoftwareindustryleadersgrewupwithoutacademicinvolvement(IBM,MicroSoft,Oracle,SAP).Latertheytriedtocompensatethatbyinstallingtheirownresearchlabs,butthespiritoftheseorganizationsisbasicallyantiacademic.
CSMR20094
ReasonsbehindtheGapbetween
AcademiaandIndustry
AcademicsandIndustrialistshaveadifferentmindset,theyare livingin
differentworlds.
AcademicsandIndustrialistsarepursuingdifferentgoals.TheAcademicis
strivingforrecognitionfromhispeers.TheIndustrialistisstrivingto
survive.
Industrythinksintermsofshortrangegoals,Academiahasalongrange
perspective. Industryprefersprovensolutionswithalowrisk,Academiaisinterested
increatingnewsolutionswithahighinnovationrate.
Industryseeksforaminimumsolutiontominimizetheirriskwhereas
academiastrivesforamaximumsolutiontomaximizetheirrecognition.
Industryismainlyconcernedwithcosts.Academiacouldcarelessabout
costs,itismainlyinterestedinthebenefits.
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Reverse&ReengineeringasagoodExampleof
theGapbetweenAcademiaandIndustry
Industryhastomaintainahugeamountoflegacysoftware(over75%ofallsoftwareislegacysoftware).Itisnotparticularlyconcernedwiththequalityofthatsoftware.Itismainlyconcernedwithfindingpersonneltomaintainitandwithmigratingittonewplatforms.
Academicsareconcernedwithimprovingthequalityoflegacysoftware,i.e.inreengineeringratherthan
migration.Partofthatefforttoimprovethequalityoflegacysystemsisreverseengineering,atermconfusingtoindustrialusers,whodontperceivewhatitisgoodfor.Contrarytotheacademicbelief,reverseengineeringisnotaprerequisitetotransformingorwrappingcode,sincethisisalmostalwaysanautomatedprocess.
CSMR20096
WhyindustryrejectsReverse&
ReengineeringTechnology
Industrialusersareunwillingtobuyintoreengineering,i.e.raisingthequalityoftheirexistingsoftware,withoutknowingbeforehandwhatsavingsthatwillbringthem.Academiaisnotabletoguaranteethemthat.
IndustrialusersarenotwillingtofinanceareengineeringprojectwithoutknowingbeforehandwhattheROIwillbe.
AcademicsarenotabletocalculateaROIbecausetheydonothavethedatatoquantifythebenefits.
Asaresult,itisdifficulttosellreengineeringandreverseengineeringprojects.Theseactivitiescanonlybecarriedoutwithinthescopeofthemaintenancebudgetwhichishardlyenoughtocoverthechangesandcorrections.Reverseandreengineeringare,incontrasttomaintenanceandmigration,oftenneglectedactivitiesinindustry,whereasinAcademia,theyreceivealotofattention.
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WhatIndustryislookingforconcerningtheirlegacysystems
Thereisaneedforbrowserstosearchthroughexistingcodetofind
dependencies.
Thereisaneedforimpactanalysistoidentifywhathastobechanged.
Thereisaneedformetricstoestimatethecostsofchange.
Thereisaneedformetricstoidentifyerrorpronecomponents.
Thereisaneedfortoolstoautomaticallyconvertoldlanguages intonew
oneswhilepreservingthefunctionalityofthesystem.
Thereisaneedfortoolstotransformdatafromonedatabaseto another.
Thereisaneedfortoolstowrapexistingcomponents,dataand
proceduresforreuseinotherenvironments.
Thesuccessofamigrationproject transformationorwrapping iseasily
measured.Eitheritworksinthenewenvironmentoritdoesnt.Thisisnot
trueofareverseorreengineeringproject,wherethegoalisaquality
improvement.Theremustbeawaytomeasurequalityimprovement.
CSMR20098
OntheDiscrepancybetweenSupply
andDemandinSoftwareMaintenance
Itisobviousthattheacademiccommunityspendstoomucheffortonsubjectsthatarenotrelevanttoindustryandtoolittleeffortonrelevantsubjects.Thus,theofferingsofacademiadonotmatchtothedemandsofindustry.Toavoidthismismatch,academiashouldstudytherequirementsofindustry.
Ontheotherhand,industryisoftennotawareofwhattheyreallyneed.Industrymustbeeducatedastotheinfluencethatcomplexityandqualityhaveonthecostsofmaintenanceandmigration.Theymustalsolearnwhatispossibleandwhatisnot.Itwouldbethetaskofacademiatoeducateindustry.
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ConsequencesoftheGap
AcademiaandIndustrytendtodriftapart
Academicsliveintheirownworld,theyfirstinventsolutions,thenthey
searchforaproblemthatfitstoit.Theyarereluctanttodeal withreal
worldproblems,sincetheseareusuallywicked.Asaconsequence much
oftheireffortiswastedontoyproblems.
Academiaisnotteachingstudentswhattheyneedtoknowabout
maintainingandevolvingexistingsystems.
Industryusersletthemselvesbemanipulatedbyscruplesvenderswho
likedrugdealersarebentonmakingtheircustomersdependent.Their
inabilitytodecideforthemselvesisduetotheirlackofeducationand
theirlackoftrustintheacademiccommunity.
Industrysuffersfromalackofawarenessastohowtheycouldapproach
theirproblems.Theydonotknowwhattoolsandtechniquesfrom
academiacouldhelpthem.Theyalsosufferfromalackofstandardization
andtheabilitytoobjectivelycomparealternatesolutions.
CSMR200910
ClosingtheGapbetween
IndustryandAcademia
MeasuresforclosingthegapbetweenAcademiaand
Industry Academiciansshouldtakepartinindustrialprojects
Professorsshouldbegivensabbaticalstoworkasmaintenanceprogrammers
Practitionersshouldattendcoursesattheuniversitiestorefresh
theirknowledge Thereshouldbecommonconferencestoappealtobothsidesin
whichtherearetwodifferentstandardsforselectingpapers
AccordingtoapollbytheIEEESoftware,bothsidesseekastrongercollaboration,howeverforthatweneedabettermutualunderstanding.
Thereneedstobeacommonlanguage,i.e.setofterms
Thereneedstobeastandardsetofmetricstomeasuresoftwaresystemsandprojects.
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TowardsaCommonLanguageStepstowardabettermutualunderstanding
Thelanguageusedbyacademiciansshouldbe
understandabletopractitioners
Reengineering&ReverseEngineeringaregoodexamples
ReverseEngineeringmeanstoapractitionerpost
documentinghissystemasopposedtopredocumentingit.
Reengineeringcouldmeanmanythings renovating,
restructuring,refactoring,etc.Oneshouldbespecific. Migrationneedstobekeptapartfromreengineering.
Itwouldbebetternottousethetermsreengineeringand
reverseengineeringatallsincetheyareconfusing.Theyhave
beenmisusedtodenotetoomanyquitedifferentactivities,
likebusinessreengineering,businessprocessreengineering
architecturalreengineeringandcodereengineering.
CSMR200912
TeachingSoftwareMaintenance Softwaremaintenanceshouldbetaughtonrealsoftware
systemsfromindustry
Studentshavetocorrecterrorsinbothproceduraland
objectorientedprograms
Studentshavetomakechangestobothproceduraland
objectorientedprograms
Studentshavetoredocumentbothproceduralandobjectorientedsystems
Studentshavetorestructureproceduralprogramsand
refactorOOcomponents
Studentshaveestimatethecostsofmaintenancetasks
Studentshavetodesignproblemreportsandchangerequests
Studentshavetodesignamaintenanceprocessforeachtype
ofmaintenancetask
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TeachingSoftwareMigration
SoftwareMigrationshouldbetaughtonareallegacysoftwareapplication
Studentsshouldmeasurethelegacyapplicationandcalculatethecostsofalternatemigrationstrategies
StudentsshouldhavetotransformlegacyproceduralcodetoamodernOOlanguage
Studentsshouldhavetowraplegacymodulesandconvertthemoverintowebservices
Studentsshouldhavetoconvertoldmasterfilesoverintorelationaldatabases
StudentsshouldhavetotransferolddatainterfacefilesoverintoXMLfiles
Studentsshouldhavetoperformaregressiontestuponthemigratedsystem
CSMR200914
ExpressingSoftwarewithNumbersTheroleofmeasurementinincreasingmutual
understanding
Weshouldstrivetoexpresssoftwareintermsofnumbersunderstandabletobothacademiciansandpractitioners
Thereneedstobeacommonunderstandingofwhatis
size,whatiscomplexityandwhatisqualityinsoftware. Thereneedstobeametricstandardformeasuring
quality,complexityandproductivity
Softwaresystems,developedindifferentmodesandlanguageshavetobecomparable.
Thereshouldbeestimationtechniquesaimeddirectlyatestimatingmaintenanceandmigrationprojects.
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SuggestionsforfutureCooperation
Conductcommonconferenceswithadoublestandardforpaperacceptance.
Firmsshouldinvitelocaluniversitiestoparticipateinindustrialprojects.
Universitiesshouldoffercontinualeducationprogramsoneveningsandweekends.
Academiaandindustryshouldstrivetofindacommonvocabularybymeansofstandardization.
Academiashouldofferindustryasimplesetofmetricswithwhichtheycanmeasuretheirquality,complexityandproductivity.
CSMR200916