On the influence of model fragment properties on a machine learning-based approach for feature location

[EN] Context: Leveraging machine learning techniques to address feature location on models has been gaining attention. Machine learning techniques empower software product companies to take advantage of the knowledge and the experience to improve the performance of the feature location process. Most...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ballarin, Manuel, Marcén, Ana C., Pelechano Ferragud, Vicente|||0000-0003-1090-230X, Cetina Englada, Carlos
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
Repositorio:RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:riunet.upv.es:10251/171217
Acceso en línea:https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/171217
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Model fragment location
Feature location
Machine learning
Learning to rank
LENGUAJES Y SISTEMAS INFORMATICOS
Descripción
Sumario:[EN] Context: Leveraging machine learning techniques to address feature location on models has been gaining attention. Machine learning techniques empower software product companies to take advantage of the knowledge and the experience to improve the performance of the feature location process. Most of the machine learning-based works for feature location on models report the machine learning techniques and the tuning parameters in detail. However, these works focus on the size and the distribution of the data sets, neglecting the properties of their contents. Objective: In this paper, we analyze the influence of three model fragment properties (density, multiplicity, and dispersion) on a machine learning-based approach for feature location. Method: The analysis of these properties is based on an industrial case provided by CAF, a worldwide provider of railway solutions. The test cases were evaluated through a machine learning technique that uses different subsets of a knowledge base to learn how to locate unknown features. Results: Results show that the density and dispersion properties have a direct impact on the results. In our case study, the model fragments with extra-small density values achieve results with up to 43% more precision, 41% more recall, 42% more F-measure, and 0.53 more Matthews Correlation Coefficient (MCC) than the model fragments with other density values. On the other hand, the model fragments with extra-small and small dispersion values achieve results with up to 53% more precision, 52% more recall, 52% more F-measure, and 0.57 more MCC than the model fragments with other dispersion values. Conclusions: The analysis of the results shows that both density and dispersion properties significantly influence the results. These results can serve not only to improve the reports by means of the model fragment properties, but also to be able to compare machine learning-based feature location approaches fairly improving the feature location results.