This open access book presents the outcomes of the Design for Future - Managed Software
Evolution priority program 1593 which was launched by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)) to develop new approaches to software engineering with a specific
focus on long-lived software systems. The different lifecycles of software and hardware
platforms lead to interoperability problems in such systems. Instead of separating the
development adaptation and evolution of software and its platforms as well as aspects like
operation monitoring and maintenance they should all be integrated into one overarching
process. Accordingly the book is split into three major parts the first of which includes an
introduction to the nature of software evolution followed by an overview of the specific
challenges and a general introduction to the case studies used in the project. The second part
of the book consists of the main chapters on knowledge carrying software and cover tacit
knowledge in software evolution continuous design decision support model-based round-trip
engineering for software product lines performance analysis strategies maintaining security
in software evolution learning from evolution for evolution and formal verification of
evolutionary changes. In turn the last part of the book presents key findings and spin-offs.
The individual chapters there describe various case studies along with their benefits
deliverables and the respective lessons learned. An overview of future research topics rounds
out the coverage. The book was mainly written for scientific researchers and advanced
professionals with an academic background. They will benefit from its comprehensive treatment
of various topics related to problems that are now gaining in importance given the higher
costs for maintenance and evolution in comparison to the initial development and the fact that
today most software is not developed from scratch but as part of a continuum of former and
future releases.
