A theoretical foundation for software engineering: A model calculus

Abstract

Theory is a critical and undervalued part of software engineering and software engineering research. While empirical evaluation is important in both software engineering and software engineering research, there is still a lack of maturity and deep understanding of this critical aspect of both enterprises. The purpose of my unifying theoretical foundation for software engineering is, in part, to illuminate the place and importance of both theory and empirical evaluation. The focus here is on the model calculus and its use in the composition of more complex models to emphasize 1) the taxonomic space of both theory and empirical evaluation, and 2) the complexity resulting from various model compositions. The latter should not be a surprise as the complexity of model compositions merely reflects the fundamental and essential characteristic of our software systems - that is, complexity.