Software Evolution and Maintenance

GLOSSARY

A man is born alone and dies alone; and he experiences the good and bad consequences of his karma alone; and he goes alone to hell or the supreme abode.

—Chanakya

Abstract syntax tree (AST)

An abstract syntax tree is a tree representation of the syntax of some source code that has been written in a programming language. Each node of the tree denotes a construct occurring in the source code. The tree is abstract in the sense that it may not represent some constructs that appear in the original source. An AST is often built by a parser as part of the processing of compiling source code.

Accidental reuse

This informal practice, in which components are selected from general libraries, is usually called opportunistic reuse or accidental reuse.

Activity

An action of one of the following types: an investigation activity, a modification activity, a management activity, or a quality assurance activity. An activity may be made up of a number of sub-activities. Usually, it takes as input one or more existing artifacts and outputs zero, one, or many new or modified artifacts.

Actual impacted set (AIS)

The set of components actually modified as the results of performing a change request.

Adaptive maintenance

The process that modifies the software to properly interface with a changing or changed environment. Adaptive maintenance includes system changes, additions, deletions, modifications, extensions, and enhancements to meet the evolving needs of the environment in which ...