General talk about software patterns

[Shivanshu Singh <shivanshukumar AT gmail.com>]

Call for Papers
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Wiley® Journal - Software: Practice and Experience
Special Issue on: ‘Patterns Languages: Addressing the Challenges’
==============
*Apologies if you got multiple copies of this CfP.

INTRODUCTION
A pattern language consists of a cascade or hierarchy of parts, linked 
closely together by patterns, which solve generically recurring problems that 
are associated with the parts. Each pattern has a title, and collectively the 
titles form a language for design. Pattern Languages are simply a collection 
of interrelated patterns. These interrelated patterns are combined in any way 
and combination to create new environments, where practitioners can solve 
context-specific problems. Precisely, the concept of pattern languages has 
invaded over into the software engineering field, to describe prior 
experiences and the processes that stem from them, in a very simple language, 
where patterns are tactfully woven as a whole, and can be combined in any 
manner to solve a particular and complex problem. Yet, this process is still 
done in an ad-hoc manner and is not straightforward enough, to ease and speed 
up the software development process.     
Thus, this special issue is driven forward by three main questions. First, 
how can we classify, develop, and utilize analysis and design patterns 
together towards the path of a problem resolution? Second, what is the 
‘behind-the-scene’ language that guides the sewing of patterns together as a 
whole? And third, how can we overcome and face challenges, other than 
patterns composition problems (patterns traceability, etc.) that can hinder 
the development of a system of patterns? The inherent inability to answer 
these questions detrimentally impacts the understanding of how to put 
patterns in real practice, and will therefore make the use of software 
patterns more complex than what it should be.

OBJECTIVE AND MOTIVATION
Building high quality systems is not an easy exercise, specifically when 
several factors can undermine their quality success, such as cost, time, and 
lack of systematic approaches. The potential promise of using software 
patterns in software development to deal with these aforementioned obstacles, 
has led software practitioners to steadfastly believe in the power of pattern 
languages, as the means for constructing complex systems in a constrained 
environment.
Software Patterns, along with Pattern Languages, have recently attracted 
software practitioners for more than a decade. They have seen software 
patterns and pattern languages as really promising techniques that ease and 
speed up their software development. However, developing robust software 
patterns and pattern languages has not reached the expected ease and 
flexibility it should have been, when dealing with determined problems; 
instead, they construct models that specifically lack some essential 
qualities that diminish the overall quality of the system rather than 
improving it.
The concept of Pattern Languages is spilling over into the software 
engineering field, to highlight software development’s prior experiences or 
best practices, using a coherent language that can be used for both 
discussing about a particular problem and also in creating new environments 
from the patterns it conveys.   This language works by connecting a 
collection of patterns, as if they were in a detailed, narrated story. Each 
of the patterns in the collection is an insightful and a novel way to manage 
or solve a set of recurrent problems in a particular context. As a whole, 
they make clearly visible both the knowledge that is pertinent to a 
particular domain, and the solutions for a set of recurrent problems.    

Pattern languages have emerged as a promising classification technique and in 
providing ways to build frameworks. However, there area number of problems, 
such as:

1. Context’s missing indicators/guidelines for in-context patterns selection 
within the pattern language.
2. Classifications of patterns’ rationale within the pattern language 
structure is also missing.
3. Traceability is lost, especially when dealing with deeper levels of 
pattern language implementation.
4. No systematic way for compositing these patterns, similar or different, to 
build software architectures
5. There is a loss of generality in traditional pattern languages.
6. Pattern languages struggles and conflicts in providing full software 
maintainability and stability.
7. How pattern languages deal with the problem they address is neither 
straightforward nor easy.
8. There is no set classification in pattern languages.
9. Pattern languages don’t distinguish between associate and remote knowledge.

The special issue will address pattern languages’ challenges and debate 
several issues related to the following questions. We want researchers, 
framework developers, and application developers to discuss and debate the 
following questions related to:

I. Pattern Languages Creation and Development

a. Leaving career experience claims on the side, can you show how to create 
and develop pattern languages?
b. What are the bases of creating pattern Languages?
c. Are there guidelines, methodologies, and/or processes for pattern language 
creations and developments?
d. Would you show an example or two of systematic and non-systematic pattern 
languages?
e. What is the starting point of any pattern language?
f. What are the components of any pattern language?
g. What kinds of patterns appear in pattern languages?

II. Pattern Languages Selection Process

a. How does one select analysis and design patterns to create a pattern 
language?
b. What is the basis for selecting these patterns into the pattern language?
c. If someone would like to build a system from patterns, how does he/she 
select patterns from the pattern language?
d. What kind of patterns should one select to build a system from patterns?
e. Is there a guideline for the selection process from a pattern language?

III. Patterns Languages Composition

a. How does one integrate the selected pattern languages to build any given 
system? Or how does one compose any system from one or more pattern languages?
b. What are the various claims related to pattern languages composition? Are 
they really true?
c. Are there any guidelines or techniques for pattern languages composition? 
Would you illustrate how to use them?

IV. System of Patterns and General Reuse

a. What do we mean, when we say “systems of patterns”?
b. Are the various claims related to building any system from pattern 
languages reasonable?
c. How to develop pattern repositories and catalogs, from which pattern 
languages can be retrieved and reused?
d. Are there any automated approaches for patterns using languages mining and 
integration?
e. What other concepts will help assist build any system from pattern 
languages?
f. Can patterns within a given pattern language appear in other remote 
pattern languages?
g. Is it possible to create many architectures from a given pattern 
languages? How many architecture can be generated?
h. Can we measure the ROI from the pattern language of a given domain?
i. Is it possible to measure or perform cost estimation using pattern 
languages?
j. It is possible to insert the quality factors with the pattern languages? 
How?

V. Impacts

What is the impact of software stability on the above-mentioned challenges 
and software quality factors?

More information available at:
http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/~fayad/software-practice-and-experience/spi/plac


PAPER FORMAT: SUBMISSION
Detailed instructions for electronic paper submission, the review process as 
well as the Instructions to Authors can be found at the journal homepage:
http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/softwarepractice under ‘Author 
Guidelines’:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/%28ISSN%291097-024X/homepage/ForAuthors.html

HOW TO SUBMIT MANUSCRIPTS
Prospective authors are requested to kindly e-mail the guest editors at: 
m.fayad AT sjsu.edu,
 
mefayad AT gmail.com,
 
shivanshukumar AT gmail.com,
 
shivanshu AT vrlsoft.com
 to kindly let us know about their interest in contributing to this special 
issue, for planning purposes.

Authors should submit their article via the link for online submission 
provided on this webpage: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/spe

Please note that while submitting the articles, kindly select  ‘Special Issue 
Article’ as the correct Article Type.
More details at:
http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/~fayad/software-practice-and-experience/spi/plac/Call_for_Papers.html

Articles should also be e-mailed to any of the guest editors at 
m.fayad AT sjsu.edu,
 
mefayad AT gmail.com,
 
shivanshukumar AT gmail.com,
 
shivanshu AT vrlsoft.com


IMPORTANT DATES

Submission deadline: December 5, 2010
Acceptance notification: March 1, 2011
Camera-ready paper due: April 1, 2011
Special Issue: October 2011

Please feel free to contact the guest editors for any questions that you may 
have.


Guest Editors:

Dr. M.E. Fayad 
Professor of Computer Engineering
Computer Engineering Dept., College of Engineering
San José State University
One Washington Square, San José, CA 95192-0180
Ph: (408) 924-7364, Fax: (408) 924-4153
E-mail: 
m.fayad AT sjsu.edu,
 
mefayad AT gmail.com
URL: http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/fayad

Shivanshu K. Singh
vrlSoft, Inc,
P.O. Box 37
Mountain View, CA 94040-0037.
E-mail: 
shivanshukumar AT gmail.com,
 
shivanshu AT vrlsoft.com
URL: http://www.shivanshusingh.com