| 2003 |
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YEAR BOOK |
University of Limerick
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Software Quality Research Laboratory at UL
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The SQRL team is led by Professor David Lorge Parnas, who has joined the faculty in the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems. Prof. Parnas is one of the world's leading software engineering researchers - he has been described by his peers as 'the grandmaster of software engineering'.
Key to our efforts is the use of precise documentation at every stage in the development and evaluation of a software system. The precision is made possible through the use of mathematics. The documentation is made more useful through the use of a tabular format that helps a software developer to find and focus on exactly the parts of a complex mathematical expression in a document that are relevant to a specific inquiry. The soundness of SQRL's research results can be assured using research methods that are conventional in engineering, mathematics, and computer science.
The laboratory studies methods of specifying software functions in ways that can be read by users or programmers, documenting software structure, checking documents for completeness and consistency, inspecting software and testing software.
SQRL devotes much of its effort to working with local industry to both improve its own research results and help these companies to produce better software.
Prof. Parnas is building an international team that will be determined to make a real and measurable contribution to the discipline of software development. Each member of the team will have both a relevant academic background and a strong interest in working with industry on industrial problems. Based in the Computer Science and Information Systems building at UL, SQRL will develop to become a team of approximately 12 researchers.
Contact: Prof. David Parnas, SQRL Director; E-mail: [email protected] ;
or Ita Page, SQRL Administrator; E-mail: [email protected]