Introducing Interactions in Multi-Objective Optimization of Software Architectures

TL;DR

This paper explores how incorporating designer interactions into multi-objective software architecture optimization improves solution quality and efficiency by guiding the search process, compared to fully automated methods.

Contribution

It introduces an interactive approach allowing designer intervention during optimization, which enhances solution relevance and uncovers architectures missed by automation.

Findings

Interactive approach yields higher quality architectures.

Designer intervention narrows the solution space.

Participants prefer interactive optimization for better trade-offs.

Abstract

Software architecture optimization aims to enhance non-functional attributes like performance and reliability while meeting functional requirements. Multi-objective optimization employs metaheuristic search techniques, such as genetic algorithms, to explore feasible architectural changes and propose alternatives to designers. However, this resource-intensive process may not always align with practical constraints. This study investigates the impact of designer interactions on multi-objective software architecture optimization. Designers can intervene at intermediate points in the fully automated optimization process, making choices that guide exploration towards more desirable solutions. Through several controlled experiments as well as an initial user study (14 subjects), we compare this interactive approach with a fully automated optimization process, which serves as a baseline. The findings demonstrate that designer interactions lead to a more focused solution space, resulting in improved architectural quality. By directing the search towards regions of interest, the interaction uncovers architectures that remain unexplored in the fully automated process. In the user study, participants found that our interactive approach provides a better trade-off between sufficient exploration of the solution space and the required computation time.