Analysis and Refactoring of Software Systems Using Performance Antipattern Profiles

Refactoring is often needed to ensure that software systems meet their performance requirements in deployments with different operational profiles, or when these operational profiles are not fully known or change over time. This is a complex activity in which software engineers have to choose from numerous combinations of refactoring actions. Our paper introduces a novel approach that uses performance antipatterns and stochastic modelling to support this activity. The new approach computes the performance antipatterns present across the operational profile space of a software system under development, enabling engineers to identify operational profiles likely to be problematic for the analysed design, and supporting the selection of refactoring actions when performance requirements are violated for an operational profile region of interest. We demonstrate the application of our approach for a software system comprising a combination of internal (i.e., in-house) components and external third-party services.