Keynotes by Serge Demeyer and Judith Bishop


Research in Software Evolution -- 'in vitro' vs. 'in vivo'

Serge Demeyer
Professor at the University of Antwerp, Belgium

Abstract: In biology and medicine "in vitro" and "in vivo" are considered two complimentary sides of the same coin, living in symbiotic relationship with one another for the greater good of the research discipline. In vitro research is necessary, because laboratory conditions allow the investigator to have full control over the experimental context, necessary to study the causal relationship between the treatment and the outcome. In vivo research, on the other hand, allows the investigator to study a phenomenon in its real-life context, hence, to confirm whether the treatment is applicable in reality. In this keynote, we will argue that software evolution research could benefit from a similar symbiotic relationship between in vitro and in vivo research. We will draw upon our experiences with various industrial research projects, to show you techniques and tools we have applied on real industrial systems to detect and repair problems. At the same time, we will reflect on what you can do as a researcher to ease industrial adoption of research ideas and prototypes.

Serge Demeyer Bio: Serge Demeyer is a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. There he leads a research group investigating the theme of "Software Reengineering" (LORE - Lab On REengineering). His main research interest concerns software engineering (more precisely, reengineering in an object-oriented context) but due to historical reasons he maintains a heavy interest in hypermedia systems as well. He is an active member of the corresponding international research communities, serving in various conference organization and program committees. He has written a book entitled "Object-Oriented reengineering Patterns" (collecting best practices in reengineering) and edited a book "Software Evolution" (collecting contributions from leading researchers in the field). More information about the presentor can be found at Serge's page.


Maintaining software in the billions

Judith Bishop
Professor Judith Bishop, Director of Computer Science, Microsoft Research, USA

Abstract: An operating system is frequently the largest and most fundamental piece of software on a computer. From its installation, it rapidly transforms into an individualized ecosystem, based on its connections to other software, compilers, drivers, intranet and user habits. Companies such as Microsoft are no longer maintaining one operating system, but billions of individual versions of it. So how does a company face up to the issues of reliability and maintenance in this context? What do we do with the bug reports that flood in in their billions? Can we predict where problems will occur before they do? In this talk, we present case studies of research into Windows and Visual Studio maintenance over the past decade. Issues of scale, globalization and system complexity are discussed and some surprising figures given. We'll end with some future directions in bug prediction that might help stem the tide.

Judith Bishop Bio: Judith Bishop is Director of Computer Science in External Research at Microsoft Research, based in Redmond, USA, where she works with Microsoft's research groups and top computer science departments globally, encouraging projects, supporting courseware and conferences, and engaging directly in research. Professor Bishop received her PhD in computer science from the University of Southampton, and has had a distinguished background in academia, having been a professor most recently at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. She has had visiting positions in the UK, Germany, Canada, Italy and the USA. Her expertise is in programming languages and distributed systems, with a strong practical bias and an interest in compilers and design patterns. She has over 90 publications including 15 books on programming languages that are available in six languages and read worldwide. Professor Bishop serves frequently on international editorial, program and award committees, and has received numerous awards and distinctions, in particular the IFIP Outstanding Service Award in 2009 for service to the worldwide computer science community. Microsoft External Research Computer Science