Patent ID: 7788641
Filing Date: 2010-08-31
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method of identifying concerns, comprising: specifying an initial concern in a software system, said specifying said initial concern including defining a query language comprising a set of operators and evaluation properties that together work to identify concerns within different artifacts that make up the software system; using the initial concern to explore artifacts in said software system and, based on a result of said using the initial concern to explore artifacts in said software system, identifying a related concern in said software system having a relationship with said initial concern, at least one of the initial and related concerns comprising an artifact other than source code, said identifying said related concern comprising automatically computing a content of said related concern based on said initial concern and said relationship between said initial and related concerns by exploring artifacts in said software system to determine said relationship by using one of pattern-matching and data mining; displaying said initial concern and said related concern; and navigating said software system in an integrated development environment (IDE), wherein said relationship comprises at least one of a call to said initial concern and a call from said initial concern, wherein said specifying said initial concern comprises using a query tool for inputting a query, such that said initial concern is returned as a result of said query, wherein said initial concern comprises at least one of an extensional concern and an intensional concern, and wherein at least one of said initial concern and said related concern comprises a unified modeling language (UML) artifact.