Research on the Controllability of Software Networks Based on the Source-Driven Model

Abstract

The complexity of software system has been increasing with software evolution, which affects the stability of software structure. Most of the existing measurement methods focus on the analysis of the macro-characteristics of the network topology, but lacked a certain depth and expansion to explore the nature of the complexity of the software structure, for this purpose, the complex network control theory was applied to the study of software network controllability. Firstly, the Source-Driver (SD) model was established based on the system control theory, the driver node sets were obtained by the minimum input theorem in the control process of software network topology; Then the relationship between the degree and center degree, the relationship between the in-degree and the out-degree of the software network topology were further analyzed owing to the non-uniqueness of the driver node sets; Finally, the values of the four indicators in the software system were compared. Experimental results show that the driver node sets in the software networks are mainly composed of nodes with low degree values, but it does not mean that the nodes whose in-degree values and out-degree values are also low; The action on control nodes and driver nodes are not random, the controllability of the driver nodes is closely related to the in-degree, when selecting the driver node sets, the network topology characteristics should be considered comprehensively, and the nodes with high degree and center degree are the first choice. The results have important guiding significance for the control, maintenance and redesign of software architecture.