Motivations, challenges, and process support for the evolution of existing software to mobile computing platforms

Abstract

Software maintenance and evolution support changes in the structure and behavior of existing software to change it as per the needs and demands of new requirements. The majority of the existing software systems lack features of mobile computing such as portability, context-awareness, connectivity, and high interactivity. The evolution of the existing software for mobile computing platforms can enable these systems to retain their core data and logic while acquiring new features that are compatible with mobile systems. The objectives of this research are to (i) systematically identify the motivations and challenges of software evolution for mobile computing, and (ii) develop and validate a process model that supports the evolution of existing software to a mobile computing platform. To conduct this research, an empirical software engineering approach has been adopted to investigate existing solutions (30 published studies from 1996 to 2019) and empirically derive a process model that supports software evolution for mobile computing. A case study-based approach is adopted to demonstrate the process-centric evolution of existing software as a mobile-enabled application. Case study-based demonstration highlights that the proposed process (i) supports an incremental evolution and (ii) allows user-decision support to guide the evolution process. Evaluation results highlight computation and energy efficiency along with enhanced usability of a mobile application when executed on resource-constrained mobile devices. The results of this research could help researchers and practitioners to rationalize motivations and challenges to utilize a process-based approach to evolve existing or aging software for mobile computing platforms. Future research is focused on providing patterns and tool support to automate and customize the evolution process.