A Software Repository and Toolset for Empirical Research

TL;DR

This paper introduces a comprehensive open-source software repository and toolset designed to support empirical research in software engineering, enabling easier access and extension of research tools and applications.

Contribution

It presents a novel repository model with associated tooling and applications, facilitating empirical research in software visualization and testing.

Findings

Repository includes multiple open-source GUI applications

Supports empirical research in visualization and testing

Easily extendable and adaptable for future research

Abstract

This paper proposes a software repository model together with associated tooling and consists of several complex, open-source GUI driven applications ready to be used in empirical software research. We start by providing the rationale for our repository and criteria that guided us in searching for suitable applications. We detail the model of the repository together with associated artifacts and supportive tooling. We detail current applications in the repository together with ways in which it can be further extended. Finally we provide examples of how our repository facilitates research in software visualization and testing.