A Service-Based Web Portal for Integrated Reverse Engineering and Program Comprehension
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REportal is a web-based reverse engineering portal web site that provides developers with access to a suite of reverse engineering and program comprehension tools via a web browser. REportal was designed to simplify system maintenance by supporting the addition and upgrading of tools without involving the end user. However, the software tools and server technologies used became deprecated so quickly that it was not possible to take full advantage of the architectural vision. Using a service-oriented architecture, we abstract the process ow of the system from the underlying tools, enabling a wizard-style method of adding services to the system, and simplifying maintenance through automation.
This new architecture enables easy installation, deployment, and service management from the user’s perspective, and easy service addition and portal maintenance from the developer’s perspective. We conducted a case study involving the addition of a legacy tool to the portal as a service, and a description of the usability benefits of a web-based portal that integrates several features for software analysis.