Software Quality Improvement via Pattern-Based Model Refactoring

This paper describes an approach to refactoring a software model using design patterns to improve design quality. In this approach, we define a design pattern as a set of three components, a problem specification characterizing problem models, a solution specification characterizing solution models and a transformation specification describing how a problem model should be transformed to a solution model. A problem model is checked for pattern applicability against the problem specification. If the pattern is applicable, the transformation specification is instantiated and applied to the model to incorporate the pattern's solution properties. The resulting model is a solution model conforming to the solution specification of the pattern. We demonstrate the approach using the Visitor design pattern and a distributed monitoring system.