Evaluating reuse and program understanding in ArchMine architecture recovery approach

Several architecture recovery approaches have been proposed in the literature with distinct goals. ArchMine, an architecture recovery approach based on dynamic analysis and data mining, aims at assisting in program understanding and software reuse by detecting cohesive classes that implement a set of related functionalities, i.e., architectural elements. It is supported by a tool set integrated into a reuse-based software development environment. In order to better reach the proposed goals, ArchMine is integrated with two other approaches, namely: ArqCheck, an architectural evaluation approach based on inspection, and ArchToDSSA, a domain variability detection approach. ArchMine and its tool set have been detailed in previous works. The contribution of this paper is to describe how ArchMine and its tool set were evaluated and refined through a series of evaluation studies. These evaluations allowed us to gradually refine the approach based on the lessons learned. In the final study, within an industrial context, the integration between ArchMine and ArqCheck is evaluated.