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Transactions on Modularity and Composition I pp 224–237Cite as

Software Unbundling: Challenges and Perspectives

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((TRMC,volume 9800))

Abstract

Unbundling is a phenomenon that consists of dividing an existing software artifact into smaller ones. It can happen for different reasons, one of them is the fact that applications tend to grow in functionalities and sometimes this can negatively influence the user experience. For example, mobile applications from well-known companies are being divided into simpler and more focused new ones. Despite its current importance, little is known or studied about unbundling or about how it relates to existing software engineering approaches, such as modularization. Consequently, recent cases point out that it has been performed unsystematically and arbitrarily. In this article, our main goal is to present this novel and relevant concept and its underlying challenges in the light of software engineering, also exemplifying it with recent cases. We relate unbundling to standard software modularization, presenting the new motivations behind it, the resulting problems, and drawing perspectives for future support in the area.

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Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the participants of MODULARITY’15 for the feedbacks, suggestions, and discussions. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Commission under the Seventh (FP7 - 2007-2013) Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (HEADS project).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

    João Bosco Ferreira Filho

  2. Inria and Irisa, Université Rennes 1, Rennes, France

    Mathieu Acher & Olivier Barais

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  1. João Bosco Ferreira Filho
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  2. Mathieu Acher
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  3. Olivier Barais
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Correspondence to João Bosco Ferreira Filho .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Shigeru Chiba

  2. École des Mines de Nantes, Nantes, France

    Mario Südholt

  3. Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

    Patrick Eugster

  4. SUNY at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA

    Lukasz Ziarek

  5. University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA

    Gary T. Leavens

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Filho, J.B.F., Acher, M., Barais, O. (2016). Software Unbundling: Challenges and Perspectives. In: Chiba, S., Südholt, M., Eugster, P., Ziarek, L., Leavens, G. (eds) Transactions on Modularity and Composition I. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9800. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46969-0_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46969-0_6

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