DARE: domain-augmented reengineering

The author presents the principles of a domain-augmented reengineering approach (DARE) as well as his initial experience of applying sections of it. The principal characteristic of the DARE approach is its focus upon the computational context of a software system, i.e., the business or scientific domain to which it relates. This context information is used both to drive the program understanding as well as for the program evolution phases of reengineering. In DARE, a domain model (concepts and associated relationships) serves as the structure denoting context and is used for two purposes. First, a dictionary of possible domain concept realizations is populated. Second, a set of mappings from the domain to an existing tool or library related to the domain is defined. Reengineering then proceeds as follows: first, a legacy system is analyzed and annotated with the dictionary of domain concept realizations. Then, these marched concepts are transitioned to the tool or library using the predefined mapping set. Program evolution can then take place at the level of the tool or library. Using his initial experience, he discusses DARE, presents an analysis and suggests implications for future work.