Publications

@inproceedings{Klinkmueller2021,

title = {A Method for Debugging Process Discovery Pipelines to Analyze the Consistency of Model Properties},

author = {Christopher Klinkmüller and Alexander Seeliger and Richard Müller and Luise Pufahl and Ingo Weber},

editor = {Artem Polyvyanyy and Moe Thandar Wynn and Amy Van Looy and Manfred Reichert},

doi = {10.1007/978-3-030-85469-0_7},

isbn = {978-3-030-85469-0},

year  = {2021},

date = {2021-01-01},

booktitle = {Business Process Management},

pages = {65--84},

publisher = {Springer International Publishing},

address = {Cham},

abstract = {Event logs have become a valuable information source for business process management, e.g., when analysts discover process models to inspect the process behavior and to infer actionable insights. To this end, analysts configure discovery pipelines in which logs are filtered, enriched, abstracted, and process models are derived. While pipeline operations are necessary to manage log imperfections and complexity, they might, however, influence the nature of the discovered process model and its properties. Ultimately, not considering this possibility can negatively affect downstream decision making. We hence propose a framework for assessing the consistency of model properties with respect to the pipeline operations and their parameters, and, if inconsistencies are present, for revealing which parameters contribute to them. Following recent literature on software engineering for machine learning, we refer to it as debugging. From evaluating our framework in a real-world analysis scenario based on complex event logs and third-party pipeline configurations, we see strong evidence towards it being a valuable addition to the process mining toolbox.},

keywords = {discovery, process mining, sensitivity analysis, uncertainty analysis},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{Mueller2021b,

title = {Experiences in Replicating an Experiment on Comparing Static and Dynamic Coupling Metrics},

author = {Richard Müller and Dirk Mahler and Christopher Klinkmüller},

url = {http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3043/short2.pdf},

year  = {2021},

date = {2021-01-01},

urldate = {2021-01-01},

booktitle = {12th Symposium on Software Performance},

publisher = {CEUR},

address = {Leipzig, Germany},

abstract = {In software engineering, coupling metrics are used to assess the quality of a software system's architecture, especially its maintainability and understandability. On an abstract level, two types of coupling metrics can be distinguished: static metrics are solely based on source and/or byte code, and dynamic metrics also take observed run-time behavior into account. While both metric types complement each other, a recent study by Schnoor and Hasselbring suggests that these two types are correlated. This observation indicates that to a certain degree both metric types encode redundant information. In this paper, we replicate the original experiment using the same data but a different tool set. Our successful replication hence substantiates the original findings. Moreover, the summary of our experience provides valuable insights to researchers who want to ensure reproducibility and replicability of their experiments. Following open science principles, we publish all data and scripts online.},

keywords = {dynamic analysis, monitoring, Neo4j, open science, replication, software metrics, static analysis},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{Baum2020,

title = {Fostering Collaboration of Academia and Industry by Open Source Software},

author = {David Baum and Pascal Kovacs and Richard Müller},

doi = {10.18420/SE2020_52},

year  = {2020},

date = {2020-01-01},

booktitle = {Software Engineering: Forschung-Innovation-Transfer},

address = {Innsbruck, Austria},

abstract = {In 2017 and 2018 we released two of our research prototypes as open source. We explain our motivation and concerns at that time and compare them with our actual experience. We also describe how open source releases enabled collaboration with industrial partners. Finally, we show how research projects can extend their funding through grants for open source software. We share our experiences with the initiative Google Summer of Code and show how we overcame bureaucratical hurdles and how our research has benefited from participating in this program.},

keywords = {academia, collaboration, Getaviz, industry, jQAssistant, jQAssistant dashboard, open source},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{Baum2020a,

title = {Identifying Usability Issues of Software Analytics Applications in Immersive Augmented Reality},

author = {David Baum and Stefan Bechert and Ulrich Eisenecker and Isabelle Meichsner and Richard Müller},

doi = {10.1109/VISSOFT51673.2020.00015},

year  = {2020},

date = {2020-01-01},

booktitle = {8th IEEE Working Conference on Software Visualization},

address = {Adelaide, Australia},

abstract = {Software analytics in augmented reality (AR) is said to have great potential. One reason why this potential is not yet fully exploited may be usability problems of the AR user interfaces. We present an iterative and qualitative usability evaluation with 15 subjects of a state-of-the-art application for software analytics in AR. We could identify and resolve numerous usability issues. Most of them were caused by applying conventional user interface elements, such as dialog windows, buttons, and scrollbars. The used city visualization, however, did not cause any usability issues. Therefore, we argue that future work should focus on making conventional user interface elements in AR obsolete by integrating their functionality into the immersive visualization.},

keywords = {augmented reality, software analytics, usability evaluation},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{Mueller2020b,

title = {Graph-Based Performance Analysis at System- and Application-Level},

author = {Richard Müller and Tom Strempel},

url = {https://pi.informatik.uni-siegen.de/stt/40_3/01_Fachgruppenberichte/SSP2019/SSP2020_Mueller.pdf},

year  = {2020},

date = {2020-01-01},

booktitle = {11th Symposium on Software Performance},

address = {Leipzig, Germany},

abstract = {The Kieker plugin for jQAssistant transforms monitored log data into graphs to support software engineers with performance analysis. In this paper, we describe how we have extended and improved this plugin to support performance analysis at system- and application-level and how we have evaluated its correctness and scalability using data from recent experiments. This is a first step to replicate complete experiments in the field of performance analysis using graphs.},

keywords = {Cypher, graph database, Java, jQAssistant, Jupyter notebook, Kieker, Neo4j, performance analysis, Python},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{Klinkmueller2019,

title = {Mining Process Mining Practices: An Exploratory Characterization of Information Needs in Process Analytics},

author = {Christopher Klinkmüller and Richard Müller and Ingo Weber},

doi = {10.1007/978-3-030-26619-6_21},

year  = {2019},

date = {2019-01-01},

booktitle = {17th International Conference on Business Process Management},

address = {Vienna, Austria},

abstract = {Many business process management activities benefit from the investigation of event data. Thus, research, foremost in the field of process mining, has focused on developing appropriate analysis techniques, visual idioms, methodologies, and tools. Despite the enormous effort, the analysis process itself can still be fragmented and inconve- nient: analysts often apply various tools and ad-hoc scripts to satisfy information needs. Therefore, our goal is to better understand the spe- cific information needs of process analysts. To this end, we characterize and examine domain problems, data, analysis methods, and visualization techniques associated with visual representations in 71 analysis reports. We focus on the representations, as they are of central importance for understanding and conveying information derived from event data. Our contribution lies in the explication of the current state of practice, en- abling the evaluation of existing as well as the creation of new approaches and tools against the background of actual, practical needs.},

keywords = {process mining, qualitative content analysis, visual analytics},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{Muller2019b,

title = {Graph-Based Analysis and Visualization of Software Traces},

author = {Richard Müller and Matteo Fischer},

url = {http://pi.informatik.uni-siegen.de/stt/39_4/01_Fachgruppenberichte/SSP2019/SSP2019_Mueller.pdf},

year  = {2019},

date = {2019-01-01},

booktitle = {10th Symposium on Software Performance},

address = {Würzburg, Germany},

abstract = {Graphs are a suitable representation of software artifacts' data created during development and maintenance activities. Software traces monitored with Kieker are one example of such data. We present a jQAssistant plugin that scans event-based Kieker traces and stores them in a Neo4j graph database. This opens up new possibilities for analyzing and visualizing these traces with respect to application performance monitoring and architecture discovery. We illustrate the feasibility and usefulness of the plugin with the Bookstore application example.},

keywords = {Cypher, graph database, Java, jQAssistant, Kieker, Neo4j, performance analysis},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{Muller2019b,

title = {A Graph-Based Feature Location Approach Using Set Theory},

author = {Richard Müller and Ulrich Eisenecker},

doi = {10.1145/3336294.3342358},

isbn = {978-1-4503-7138-4},

year  = {2019},

date = {2019-01-01},

urldate = {2019-01-01},

booktitle = {23rd Systems and Software Product Line Conference},

pages = {161--165},

publisher = {ACM},

address = {Paris, France},

series = {SPLC '19},

abstract = {The ArgoUML SPL benchmark addresses feature location in Software Product Lines (SPLs), where single features as well as feature combinations and feature negations have to be identified. We present a solution for this challenge using a graph-based approach and set theory. The results are promising. Set theory allows to exactly define which parts of feature locations can be computed and which precision and which recall can be achieved. This has to be complemented by a reliable identification of feature-dependent class and method traces as well as refinements. The application of our solution to one scenario of the benchmark supports this claim.},

keywords = {ArgoUML, benchmark, Cypher, extractive software product line adoption, feature location, graph database, Java, jQAssistant, Neo4j, reverse engineering, set theory, software product line, static analysis},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{Muller2018,

title = {Towards an Open Source Stack to Create a Unified Data Source for Software Analysis and Visualization},

author = {Richard Müller and Dirk Mahler and Michael Hunger and Jens Nerche and Markus Harrer},

doi = {10.1109/VISSOFT.2018.00019},

year  = {2018},

date = {2018-01-01},

booktitle = {6th IEEE Working Conference on Software Visualization},

publisher = {IEEE},

address = {Madrid, Spain},

abstract = {The beginning of every software analysis and visualization process is data acquisition. However, there are various sources of data about a software system. The methods used to extract the relevant data are as diverse as the sources are. Furthermore, integration and storage of heterogeneous data from different software artifacts to form a unified data source are very challenging. In this paper, we introduce an extensible open source stack to take the first step to solve these challenges. We show its feasibility by analyzing and visualizing JUnit and provide answers regarding the schema, selection, and implementation of software artifacts' data.},

keywords = {D3, graph database, Java, JavaScript, jQAssistant, jQAssistant dashboard, Neo4j, open source, query, React, schema, software analysis, software visualization},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{Baum2018,

title = {Visualizing Design Erosion: How Big Balls of Mud are Made},

author = {David Baum and Jens Dietrich and Craig Anslow and Richard Müller},

doi = {10.1109/VISSOFT.2018.00022},

year  = {2018},

date = {2018-01-01},

booktitle = {6th IEEE Working Conference on Software Visualization},

publisher = {IEEE},

address = {Madrid, Spain},

abstract = {Software systems are not static, they have to undergo frequent changes to stay fit for purpose, and in the process of doing so, their complexity increases. It has been observed that this process often leads to the erosion of the systems design and architecture and with it, the decline of many desirable quality attributes, such as maintainability. This process can be captured in terms of antipatterns - atomic violations of widely accepted design principles. We present a visualisation that exposes the design of evolving Java programs, highlighting instances of selected antipatterns including their emergence and cancerous growth. This visualisation assists software engineers and architects in assessing, tracing and therefore combating design erosion. We evaluated the effectiveness of the visualisation in four case studies with ten participants.},

keywords = {antipattern, Getaviz, Java, software visualization},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{DBLP:conf/vissoft/BaumSKE017,

title = {GETAVIZ: Generating Structural, Behavioral, and Evolutionary Views of Software Systems for Empirical Evaluation},

author = {David Baum and Jan Schilbach and Pascal Kovacs and Ulrich Eisenecker and Richard Müller},

doi = {10.1109/VISSOFT.2017.12},

isbn = {978-1-5386-1003-9},

year  = {2017},

date = {2017-01-01},

booktitle = {5th IEEE Working Conference on Software Visualization},

pages = {114--118},

publisher = {IEEE},

address = {Shanghai, China},

abstract = {Software visualizations are used to support stakeholders in software engineering activities like development, project management, and maintenance. The respective tasks determine which aspects of software, i.e., structural, behavioral and/or evolutionary information, need to be visualized. To promote the usage of software visualizations they have to optimally support the needs of the respective stakeholder for the specific task at hand. Therefore, we see the necessity to create innovative visualizations and to optimize existing ones. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to empirically evaluate the different visualizations and their variants. In this paper, we present GETAVIZ as a toolset to support these processes, i.e., designing visualizations, generating task-and role specific visualizations, and conducting empirical evaluations. The toolset implements the concept of generative and model-driven software visualization and makes it possible to generate different visualizations for all three aspects of software. Its strength lies in its adaptability, so that new visualizations and variations of existing ones can be implemented easily. In addition to the generator this toolset contains several extractors for different programming languages, a browser-based user interface for viewing and interacting with visualizations, and an evaluation server to facilitate the execution of local and remote experiments. The paper illustrates the capabilities of GETAVIZ and it discusses plans for its further development.},

keywords = {empirical evaluation, evaluation process, Getaviz, Java, JavaScript, software visualization, user interface, visualization metaphor, X3D, X3DOM},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{Baum2016,

title = {A User-centered Approach for Optimizing Information Visualizations},

author = {David Baum and Pascal Kovacs and Ulrich Eisenecker and Richard Müller},

url = {http://wscg.zcu.cz/wscg2016/short/D89-full.pdf},

year  = {2016},

date = {2016-01-01},

booktitle = {24th International Conference in Central Europe on Computer Graphics, Visualization and Computer Vision},

address = {Pilsen, Czech Republic},

abstract = {The optimization of information visualizations is time consuming and expensive. To reduce this we propose an improvement of existing optimization approaches based on user-centered design, focusing on readability, comprehensibility, and user satisfaction as optimization goals. The changes comprise (1) a separate optimization of user interface and representation, (2) a fully automated evaluation of the representation, and (3) qualitative user studies for simultaneously creating and evaluating interface variants. On the basis of these results we are able to find a local optimum of an information visualization in an efficient way.},

keywords = {evaluation, information visualization, optimization, usability, user-centered design},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{Muller2015b,

title = {The Recursive Disk Metaphor - A Glyph-based Approach for Software Visualization},

author = {Richard Müller and Dirk Zeckzer},

doi = {10.5220/0005342701710176},

year  = {2015},

date = {2015-01-01},

booktitle = {6th International Conference on Visualization Theory and Applications},

pages = {171--176},

address = {Berlin, Germany},

abstract = {In this paper, we present the recursive disk metaphor, a glyph-based visualization for software visualization. The metaphor represents all important structural aspects and relations of software using nested circular glyphs. The result is a shape with an inner structural consistency and a completely defined orientation. We compare the recursive disk metaphor to other state-of-the-art 2D approaches that visualize structural aspects and relations of software. Further, a case study shows the feasibility and scalability of the approach by visualizing an open source software system in a browser.},

keywords = {glyph-based visualization, Java, JavaScript, software visualization, X3D, X3DOM},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{Muller2015a,

title = {Past, Present, and Future of 3D Software Visualization - A Systematic Literature Analysis},

author = {Richard Müller and Dirk Zeckzer},

doi = {10.5220/0005325700630074},

year  = {2015},

date = {2015-01-01},

booktitle = {6th International Conference on Visualization Theory and Applications},

pages = {63--74},

address = {Berlin, Germany},

abstract = {The ongoing 2D vs. 3D research debate from information visualization also affects software visualization. There are many 2D, 3D, and combinations of 2D and 3D visualizations for software representing its structure, behavior, or evolution. This study contributes findings to this debate and presents the results of analyzing the applications of 3D in software visualization with the objectives to outline the state-of-the-art, to reveal trends, and to identify research gaps. The analysis combined a systematic mapping study to get an overview and a systematic literature review to gain deeper insights. The relevant papers were identified by three different search strategies (manual browsing, keyword, and backward search). Starting with a set of 4386 publications from the fields of information and software visualization 155 relevant papers dealing with 2D & 3D or 3D software visualizations were identified. These papers were analyzed according to dimensionality, aspect, year, evaluation method, and application of the third dimension. In a nutshell, the majority of 3D software visualizations represents the structural aspect, is either evaluated using case studies showing working examples or not evaluated at all, and applies a 2D layout using the third dimension for displaying software metrics.},

keywords = {3D, literature study, software visualization},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{Muller2014b,

title = {How to Master Challenges in Experimental Evaluation of 2D versus 3D Software Visualizations},

author = {Richard Müller and Pascal Kovacs and Jan Schilbach and Dirk Zeckzer},

doi = {10.1109/3DVis.2014.7160097},

year  = {2014},

date = {2014-01-01},

booktitle = {IEEE VIS 2014 International Workshop on 3DVis: Does 3D really make sense for Data Visualization?},

address = {Paris, France},

abstract = {Software visualizations in 3D and virtual reality are an interesting and debated research topic in academia. However, the benefits and drawbacks of 3D software visualizations in immersive environments compared to its 2D counterparts are not very well understood due to the lack of empirical evaluations. The challenge is to plan valid experiments with analogous 2D and 3D visualization techniques, while avoiding various influence factors and minimizing the threats to validity. In this paper, we present an experiment as part of a series using a structured approach to meet these challenges.},

keywords = {2D, 3D, controlled experiment, software visualization, virtual reality},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{Muller2014a,

title = {A Structured Approach for Conducting a Series of Controlled Experiments in Software Visualization},

author = {Richard Müller and Pascal Kovacs and Jan Schilbach and Ulrich Eisenecker and Dirk Zeckzer and Gerik Scheuermann},

doi = {10.5220/0004835202040209},

year  = {2014},

date = {2014-01-01},

booktitle = {5th International Conference on Visualization Theory and Applications},

pages = {204--209},

address = {Lisbon, Portugal},

abstract = {In the field of software visualization controlled experiments are an important instrument to investigate the specific reasons, why some software visualizations excel the expectations on providing insights and ease task solving while others fail doing so. Despite this, controlled experiments in software visualization are rare. A reason for this is the fact that performing such evaluations in general, and particularly performing them in a way that minimizes the threats to validity, is hard to accomplish. In this paper, we present a structured approach on how to conduct a series of controlled experiments in order to give empirical evidence for advantages and disadvantages of software visualizations in general and of 2D vs. 3D software visualizations in particular.},

keywords = {3D, controlled experiment, evaluation, software visualization},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{Mory2012,

title = {Exposing Proprietary Virtual Reality Software to Nontraditional Displays},

author = {Maik Mory and Steffen Masik and Richard Müller and Veith Köppen},

url = {http://wscg.zcu.cz/WSCG2012/!_WSCG2012-Communications-1.pdf},

year  = {2012},

date = {2012-01-01},

booktitle = {20th International Conference in Central Europe on Computer Graphics, Visualization and Computer Vision},

address = {Pilsen, Czech Republic},

abstract = {Nontraditional displays just started their triumph. In contrast to traditional displays, which are plane and rectangular, they do not only differ in design and architecture; they also implicate different semantics and pragmatics in the rendering pipeline. We strive for a generic solution that couples legacy applications with nontraditional displays. In this paper, we present an architecture and a respective experiment, which exposes a proprietary virtual reality software to a 360 degree virtual environment. Therefore we introduce a rigorous master-slave design. The proposed architecture requires discussion of the following details: how to access a proprietary application's OpenGL stream; how to transmit the OpenGL stream efficiently in a clustered rendering setup; how to process the OpenGL stream for adaption to nontraditional display semantics; and how to deal with the arising code complexity, withal. Our design decisions are highly interdependent. The presented architecture overcomes limitations, which were implied by client-server design in earlier work. The proposed rigorous master-slave design is totally transparent to the client software, and reduces interdependencies between rendering software and rendering clusters. Thus, it inherently reduces network round trips and promotes the use of scalable multicast. Our architecture is tested in a reproducible experiment, which provides a qualitative proof of concept.},

keywords = {distributed rendering, generative programming, interoperability, multicast, nontraditional display, opengl, virtual reality},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{Muller2011a,

title = {Identifikation der Potenziale dreidimensionaler Softwarevisualisierung - Zielstellung und Vorgehen},

author = {Richard Müller},

editor = {Ralf Reussner and Alexander Pretschner and Stefan Jähnichen},

url = {https://dl.gi.de/handle/20.500.12116/19899},

year  = {2011},

date = {2011-01-01},

booktitle = {Software Engineering 2011 - Workshopband},

pages = {291--296},

publisher = {Gesellschaft für Informatik},

address = {Bonn},

abstract = {Die Softwarevisualisierung ist ein wesentlicher Bestandteil der ingenieurmäßigen Softwareentwicklung. Sie macht statische, dynamische und evolutionäre Aspekte von Softwareartefakten in den verschiedenen Phasen des Softwarelebenszyklus sichtbar. Mithilfe von aufgaben- und rollenspezifischen Sichten kann die Software schneller verstanden und ihr Entwicklungsprozess besser gesteuert und kontrolliert werden. Das zentrale Ziel der Arbeit liegt in der Optimierung des Softwareentwicklungsprozesses, indem Nutzenpotenziale der dreidimensionalen Softwarevisualisierung für einzelne Aufgaben dieses Prozesses identifiziert werden. Der tatsächliche Nutzen dieser Potenziale soll dann theoretisch und empirisch überprüft werden und neue Erkenntnisse für Wissenschaft und Praxis liefern.},

keywords = {3D, software visualization},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{Muller2011b,

title = {Generative Software Visualization: Automatic Generation of User-Specific Visualizations},

author = {Richard Müller and Pascal Kovacs and Jan Schilbach and Ulrich Eisenecker},

url = {https://www.inf.ovgu.de/inf_media/downloads/forschung/technical_reports_und_preprints/2011/TechReport10.pdf},

year  = {2011},

date = {2011-01-01},

booktitle = {International Workshop on Digital Engineering},

pages = {45--49},

address = {Magdeburg, Germany},

abstract = {Software visualization provides tools and methods to create role- and task-specific views on software systems to enhance the development and maintenance process. However, the effort to produce customized and optimized visualizations is still high. Hence, we present our approach of combining the generative and themodel driven paradigmand applying it to the field of software visualization. Based on this approach we want to implement a generator that allows to automatically generate software visualizations in 2d, 2.5d, 3d, or for virtual reality environments according to user-specific requirements.},

keywords = {automation, generative and model-driven software visualization, model driven visualization, software visualization, software visualization families},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}