Antony Tang

Centre for Software Analysis and Testing

Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies
Swinburne University of Technology
H39, PO Box 218, Hawthorn
VIC 3122, Australia 

Email: atang [at] swin.edu.au
Office: En506e
Tel: +61 3 9214 8739
Fax: +61 3 9819 0823

 


Research Interests

My main research interest is in software architectural design and design reasoning. Most software research in this area focuses on analysis and design processes. There is little understanding on how design decisions are made and their influences on systems.  As designers, we assume we make the correct design decisions based on our intuition and experience. A deeper understanding of design decisions and their reasoning will provide much insight into whether decisions are sound and if they can be improved.  Such research will help software architects and designers to better design, evaluate, trace and maintain complex systems. I study a number of subjects: (a) the relationship between biases and software design decision making; (b) the use of design reasoning techniques in rational design decision making; (c) the use of semantic computing to associate and retrieve software architecture and design knowledge; (d) verification of software architecture.

I collaborate with many researchers to improve software design thinking. The results of our studies are aimed to help the software industry. We want our work to benefit software architects, designers and project managers; and ultimately help to avoid design and project failures.

I studied agile development and its relationships with architecture knowledge management (AKM) and architecture design. We have found many issues in the documentation and communication of AK and it is a key area which requires further research. My other research interest is in designing software for intelligent vehicles. Through AutoCRC support, we have worked with GM Holden to design a remote vehicle monitoring system. Using a remote monitoring system, we can selectively collect vehicle information from ECUs and probe ECUs. I am also interested in studying the use of DSRC to reduce vehicle collisions and improve the safety and efficiency of transport systems. My research involves studying and building intelligent software to detect collision dangers and compute the best way to avoid collisions under different traffic scenarios.

Industry Collaborations: I have worked in the software industry and I appreciate the many issues the software industry faces. Therefore my research is about reflecting how we can improve software design and development practices to reduce failures and improve efficiencies. If you are interested in my research or you want to learn more about how our research results may help you, you can email or phone me.

Potential PhD Students: If you interested in my areas of research, please contact me for a discussion. For scholarship information, please see http://www.future.swinburne.edu.au/scholarships/postgrad.htm.

 

Working Experience

 

Publications - Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

1.        A. Tang, H. van Vliet, Design Strategy and Software Design Effectiveness. IEEE Software, 51-55, Jan-Feb 2012.

2.        P. Liang, A. Jansen, P. Avgeriou, A. Tang, L. Xu, Advanced quality prediction model for software architectural knowledge sharing. Journal of Systems and Software, 84(5):786-802, May 2011. (PDF)

3.      A. Tang, A. Aleti, J. Burge, H. van Vliet, What makes software design effective?, Journal of Design Studies, 31(6): 614-640, Nov 2010. (PDF)

4.      A. Tang, P. Avgeriou, A. Jansen, R. Capilla and M. A. Babar, A Comparative Study of Architecture Knowledge Management Tools, Journal of Systems and Software, 83(3): 352-370, Mar 2010. (PDF)

5.      A. Tang, A. Yip, Collision Avoidance Timing Analysis of DSRC-based Vehicles, Accident Analysis and Prevention, 42(1): 182-195, Jan 2010. (PDF)

6.      A. Tang, J. Han and R. Vasa. Supporting Software Architecture Design Reasoning. IEEE Software, 43-49, March/April 2009. (PDF)

7.      A. Tang, Y. Jin and J. Han. A Rationale-based Architecture Model for Design Traceability and Reasoning. Journal of Systems and Software, 80(6):918-934, June 2007. (PDF)

8.      A. Tang, A. Nicholson, Y. Jin and J. Han. Using Bayesian Belief Networks for Change Impact Analysis in Architecture Design.  Journal of Systems and Software,  80(1):127-148, January, 2007. (PDF)

9.      A. Tang, M.A. Barbar, I. Gorton and J. Han. A Survey of Architecture Design Rationale. Journal of Systems and Software, 79(12):1792-1804, December 2006. (PDF)

 

Publications - Book Chapters

1.      A. Tang, P. Liang, V. Clerc, H. van Vliet, Supporting Co-evolving Architectural Requirements and Design through Traceability and Reasoning, Relating Software Requirements to Software Architecture, Avgeriou, P., Grundy, J., Lago, P. & Mistrik, I. (ed.), pp.35-60, Springer, 2011. 

2.      A. Tang, H. van Vliet, Software Architecture Design Reasoning, Software Architecture Knowledge Management: Theory and Practice, Babar, M. A.; Dingsoyr, T.; Lago, P. & van Vliet, H. (ed.), pp.155-174, Springer, 2009. (PDF)

 

Publications - Peer-reviewed Conference and Workshop Papers

1.      A. Tang, T. Gerrits, P. Nacken and H. van Vliet, On the Interplay between Software Architects and Software Engineers in an Agile Environment: Who Should Do What? 4th International Workshop on Social Software Engineering (SSE 11) at FSE/ESEC, 2011.

2.      C. Manteli., B. van den Hooff, A. Tang, H. van Vliet, The impact of Multi-site Software Governance on Knowledge Management, Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Global Software Engineering (ICGSE), 40-49, 2011.

3.      R. Premraj, G. Nauta, A. Tang, H. van Vliet, The Boomeranged Software Architect, Proceedings of the 9th Working IEEE/IFIP Conference on Software Architecture (WICSA 2011), 73-82, 2011. (PDF)

4.      A. Tang, P. Liang, H. van Vliet, Software Architecture Documentation: The Road Ahead, Proceedings of the 9th Working IEEE/IFIP Conference on Software Architecture (WICSA 2011), pp. 252-255, 2011. (PDF)

5.      R. Premraj, A. Tang, N. Linssen, H. Geraats, H. van Vliet, To Branch or Not To Branch?, Proceedings of the 2011 International Conference on Systems and Software Process (ICSSP 2011), pp 81-90, 2011. doi>10.1145/1987875.1987890. (PDF)

6.      A. Tang, Software Designers Are You Biased?, Keynote Speech in Sixth Workshop on SHAring and Reusing architectural Knowledge (SHARK 2011), pp 1-8, 2011. doi>10.1145/1988676.1988678. (PDF)

7.      A. Tang, T. de Boer, H. van Vliet, Building Roadmaps: A Knowledge Sharing Perspective, Accepted for Publication in Sixth Workshop on SHAring and Reusing architectural Knowledge (SHARK 2011), pp 13-20, 2011. doi>10.1145/1988676.1988681. (PDF)

8.      A. Tang, W. Couwenberg, E. Scheppink, N. A.de Brugh, S. Deelstra, H. van Vliet, SPL Migration Tensions: An Industry Experience, 1st Knowledge-Oriented Product Line Engineering Workshop (SPLASH 2010), pp 1-6, 2010. doi>10.1145/1964138.1964141 . (PDF)

9.      A. Tang, A. Aleti, Human Reasoning and Software Design: An Analysis, Proceedings Workshop Studying Professional Software Design, University of California, Irvine, 2010. (PDF)

10.  P. Zhang, L. Grunske, A. Tang, and B. Li, Probabilistic Timed Property Sequence Charts- A Formal Syntax, Automated Software Engineering (ASE 2009), short paper, pp 500-504, 2009. (PDF)

11.  A. Tang, H. van Vliet, Modeling Constraints Improves Software Architecture Design Reasoning, In Proceedings of the Joint Working IEEE/IFIP Conference on Software Architecture 2009 & European Conference on Software Architecture 2009 (WICSA/ECSA 2009), 253-256, 2009. (PDF)

12.  M. van den Berg, A. Tang, R. Farenhorst, A Constraint-Oriented Approach to Software Architecture Design, In Proceedings of the Quality Software International Conference 2009 (QSIC 2009), 396-405, 2009. (PDF)

13.  W.F. Bu, A. Tang, J. Han, An Analysis of Decision-Centric Architectural Design Approaches, In Fourth Workshop on SHAring and Reusing architectural Knowledge (SHARK 2009), 33-40, 2009. (PDF)

14.  A. Tang, F.C. Kuo, and M. F. Lau, Towards Independent Software Architecture Review. In Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Software Architecture (ECSA '08), 306-313, 2008. (PDF)

15.  A. Tang, M. Tran, J. Han, H. van Vliet, Design Reasoning Improves Software Design Quality. In Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on the Quality of Software-Architectures (QoSA '08), 28-42, 2008. (PDF)

16.  R. Capilla, F. Nava, A. Tang, Attributes for Charactering the Evolution of Architectural Design Decisions. In Proceedings of the Third International IEEE Workshop on Software Evolvability at IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance (ICSM 2007), 15-22, 2007. (PDF)

17.  Y. Jin, A. Tang, J. Han, Y. Liu, Performance Evaluation and Prediction for Legacy Information Systems. In Proceedings of the 29th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2007), 540-549, 2007. (PDF)

18.  M. A. Babar, A. Tang, I. Gorton and J. Han. Industrial Perspective on the Usefulness of Design Rationale for Software Maintenance: A Survey. In Proceedings of the Quality Software International Conference 2006 (QSIC 2006), 201-208, 2006. (PDF)

19.  A. Tang, M. A. Babar, I. Gorton, J. Han. A Survey of the Use and Documentation of Architecture Design Rationale. In Proceedings of the 5th Working IEEE/IFIP Conference on Software Architecture (WICSA 2005), 89-98, 2005. Best paper. (PDF)

20.  A. Tang, Y. Jin, J. Han, A. Nicholson. Predicting Change Impact in Architecture Design with Bayesian Belief Networks. In Proceedings of the 5th Working IEEE/IFIP Conference on Software Architecture (WICSA 2005), 67-76, 2005. Best paper. (PDF)

21.  A. Tang, J. Han. Architecture Rationalization: A Methodology for Architecture Verifiability, Traceability and Completeness. In Proceedings of the 12th Annual IEEE International Conference and Workshop on the Engineering of Computer Based Systems (ECBS 2005), 135-144, 2005. (PDF)

22.  A. Tang, J. Han, P. Chen. A Comparative Analysis of Architecture Frameworks. In Proceedings of the 11th Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference (APSEC 2004), 640-647, 2004. (PDF)

23.  T.Y. Chen, F.C. Kuo, Y. Liu, A. Tang. Metamorphic Testing and Testing with Special Values. In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Networking and Parallel/Distributed Computing (SNPD 2004), 128-134, 2004. (PDF)

 

Publications - Technical Reports and Other Articles

1.      S. Deelstra, J. Kesseler, A. Tang, H. van Vliet, Knowledge in the Field of Software Architecture, Informatie, 52(9):48-53, Nov 2010.

2.      A. Tang, P. Lago, Notes on Design Reasoning Techniques, Technical Report SUTIT-TR2010-01, Faculty of ICT, Swinburne University of Technology, 2010. (PDF)

3.      A. Tang, A. Yip, Collision Avoidance Timing Analysis for DSRC-based Vehicles, Technical Report C401 M48 AutoCRC, 2009.

4.      A. Tang, Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications for Accident Mitigation - A Preliminary Report, Technical Report C4-01 TR10 AutoCRC, 2008.

5.      A. Tang, Managing project risks with architecture modelling, Australian Project Manager - Journal of the Australian Institute of Project Management, , 25(2):13-14, June 2005. (PDF)

6.      A. Tang, M.A. Babar, I. Gorton, J. Han. A Survey on Architecture Design Rationale. Technical Report SUTICT-TR2005.02, Faculty of ICT, Swinburne University of Technology, 2005.

7.      A. Tang, J. Han. Architecture Rationalization: A Methodology for Architecture Verifiability, Traceability and Completeness. Technical Report SUTIT-TR2004.05, School of Information Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, 2004.

8.      A. Tang, J. Han, P. Chen. A Comparative Analysis of Architecture Frameworks. Technical Report SUTIT-TR2004.01, School of Information Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, 2004.

PhD Thesis

A. Tang. A Rationale-based Model for Architecture Design Reasoning. February 2007. (PDF)

Patents

-        A. Tang, A. Yip, I. Lei, Software development system having particular adaptability to financial payment switches. United States Patent, Number 7,131,108. 31st October 2006.

-        T. Kels, G. Lake, A. Tang, Selective Transmission of Vehicle Fleet Data, Patent Application filed in 2009.

Research Grants

-         J. Han, A. Tang and Y. Jin. System Performance and Scalability, CitiPower and Powercor Australia, 2005-2006.

-          J. Han, A. Tang, C.F. Liu and J-G Schneider. Proactive Maintenance (Dynamically Reconfigurable Monitoring and Diagnostic Systems), AutoCRC, 2006-2008.

-          A. Tang, F.-C. Kuo, M.F. Lau, Verification of Software Architecture Design, Faculty of ICT - Dean's Collaborative Grants Scheme, 2007

-          A. Tang, An Investigation into the Impact of Architectural Constraints on Software Architecture, Swinburne University of Technology Research Development Scheme, 2008.

-          A. Tang, Proactive Vehicle Communications Demonstrator, AutoCRC, 2009.

-          P. Liang, A. Tang, H.v. Vliet, C.Z. Xu, B. Wen, A Knowledge-enabled Approach for Flexible Software Documentation, National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), 2011.

 

Tool Support

This XML file is an extension to UML to support the capture and representation of the Architecture Rationale and Element Linkage (AREL) model. It provides the stereotyped template for architects to enter design reasoning information. It requires Enterprise Architect (version 7.1) tool to run. Click here to download version 1.2 of the XML file and instructions. You could download Enterprise Architect version 7.1. from http://www.sparxsystems.com.au/.

The AREL Model Checking tool (version 1.2) is a .Net program to trace and check correctness of design reasoning models stored in Enterprise Architect. It also integrates with Netica, a Bayesian Belief Network tool, to capture and compute decision dependency probabilities.

I have prepared a demonstration of the AREL tool using Enterprise Architect, you will need to have Adobe Flash installed to run it.

 

Last updated on 27/02/2012 by Antony Tang