Axivion Bauhaus Suite
Encyclopedia
The Bauhaus project is a software research project collaboration among the University of Stuttgart
, the University of Bremen
) and a commercial spin-off company Axivion, formerly called Bauhaus Software Technologies. The Bauhaus project serves the fields of software maintenance
and software reengineering.
Created in response to the problem of software rot
, the project aims to analyze and recover the means and methods developed for legacy software by understanding the software's architecture
. As part of its research, the project develops software tools (such as the Bauhaus Toolkit) for software architecture, software maintenance and reengineering and program understanding.
The project derives its name from the former Bauhaus
art school.
and Rainer Koschke, Ph.D. at the University of Stuttgart in 1996. It was originally a collaboration between the Institute for
Computer Science (ICS) of the University of Stuttgart and the Fraunhofer-Institut für Experimentelles Software Engineering (IESE), which is no longer involved.
The commercial spin-off Axivion was started in 2005.
Today, the research is done at Axivion, the Institute of Software Technology, Department of Programming Languages at the University of Stuttgart as well as at the Software Engineering Group of the Faculty 03 at the University of Bremen.
The Bauhaus tool suite aids the analysis of source code by creating abstractions
(representations) of the code in an intermediate language
as well as through a resource flow graph (RFG). The RFG is a hierarchal graph with typed nodes
and edges, which are structured in various views.
The toolkit is licensed at no charge for academic use. For commercial use, the project has created a spin-off company, Axivion, to provide licensing and support under the name Axivion Bauhaus Suite.
, the Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft, the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, T-Nova Deutsche Telekom Innovationsgesellschaft Ltd., and Xerox
Research.
. The commercial-use version of the Bauhaus tool is called the Axivion Bauhaus Suite.
The members of the project were repeatedly awarded with Best Paper Awards and were invited to submit journal papers several times.
In 2003, the Bauhaus project received the do it.software award from MFG Stiftung Baden-Württemberg.
University of Stuttgart
The University of Stuttgart is a university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized in 10 faculties....
, the University of Bremen
University of Bremen
The University of Bremen is a university of approximately 23,500 people from 126 countries that are studying, teaching, researching, and working in Bremen, Germany...
) and a commercial spin-off company Axivion, formerly called Bauhaus Software Technologies. The Bauhaus project serves the fields of software maintenance
Software maintenance
Software Maintenance in software engineering is the modification of a software product after delivery to correct faults, to improve performance or other attributes....
and software reengineering.
Created in response to the problem of software rot
Software rot
Software rot, also known as code rot or software erosion or software decay or software entropy, is a type of bit rot. It describes the perceived slow deterioration of software over time that will eventually lead to it becoming faulty, unusable, or otherwise in need of maintenance...
, the project aims to analyze and recover the means and methods developed for legacy software by understanding the software's architecture
Software architecture
The software architecture of a system is the set of structures needed to reason about the system, which comprise software elements, relations among them, and properties of both...
. As part of its research, the project develops software tools (such as the Bauhaus Toolkit) for software architecture, software maintenance and reengineering and program understanding.
The project derives its name from the former Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
art school.
History
The Bauhaus project was initiated by Erhard Ploedereder, Ph.D.Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
and Rainer Koschke, Ph.D. at the University of Stuttgart in 1996. It was originally a collaboration between the Institute for
Computer Science (ICS) of the University of Stuttgart and the Fraunhofer-Institut für Experimentelles Software Engineering (IESE), which is no longer involved.
The commercial spin-off Axivion was started in 2005.
Today, the research is done at Axivion, the Institute of Software Technology, Department of Programming Languages at the University of Stuttgart as well as at the Software Engineering Group of the Faculty 03 at the University of Bremen.
Bauhaus Toolkit
The Bauhaus Toolkit (or simply the "Bauhaus tool") includes a static code analysis tool for C, C++, C#, Java and Ada code. It comprises various analyses such as architecture checking, interface analysis, and clone detection. Bauhaus was originally derived from the older Rigi reverse engineering environment, which was expanded by Bauhaus due to the Rigi's limitations. It is among the most notable visualization tools in the field.The Bauhaus tool suite aids the analysis of source code by creating abstractions
Abstraction (computer science)
In computer science, abstraction is the process by which data and programs are defined with a representation similar to its pictorial meaning as rooted in the more complex realm of human life and language with their higher need of summarization and categorization , while hiding away the...
(representations) of the code in an intermediate language
Intermediate language
In computer science, an intermediate language is the language of an abstract machine designed to aid in the analysis of computer programs. The term comes from their use in compilers, where a compiler first translates the source code of a program into a form more suitable for code-improving...
as well as through a resource flow graph (RFG). The RFG is a hierarchal graph with typed nodes
Node (computer science)
A node is a record consisting of one or more fields that are links to other nodes, and a data field. The link and data fields are often implemented by pointers or references although it is also quite common for the data to be embedded directly in the node. Nodes are used to build linked, often...
and edges, which are structured in various views.
The toolkit is licensed at no charge for academic use. For commercial use, the project has created a spin-off company, Axivion, to provide licensing and support under the name Axivion Bauhaus Suite.
Project funding
The Bauhaus project was funded by the state of Baden-WürttembergBaden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
, the Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft, the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, T-Nova Deutsche Telekom Innovationsgesellschaft Ltd., and Xerox
Xerox
Xerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...
Research.
Axivion
Axivion is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. It is a spin-off of the University of StuttgartUniversity of Stuttgart
The University of Stuttgart is a university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized in 10 faculties....
. The commercial-use version of the Bauhaus tool is called the Axivion Bauhaus Suite.
Reception
The Bauhaus tool suite has been use successfully in research and commercial projects. It has been noted that Bauhaus is "the perhaps most extensive" customization of the well-known Rigi environment,The members of the project were repeatedly awarded with Best Paper Awards and were invited to submit journal papers several times.
In 2003, the Bauhaus project received the do it.software award from MFG Stiftung Baden-Württemberg.