His research lies in the discipline of software engineering and has a particular emphasis on configuration management , software architecture , and configurable distributed systems . Although seemingly unrelated, a cohesive and natural connection exists among the three areas. Exploration and exploitation of this connection holds a promise for advanced capabilities that support the design, implementation, and deployment of next-generation software systems. Software engineering education is an additional interest of Van der Hoek. Although no specific projects are currently being pursued, ideas are forming and a Software SimCity will hopefully see the light sometime soon.
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