Detection and solution of software performance antipatterns in palladio architectural models

Abstract

Antipatterns are conceptually similar to patterns in that they document recurring solutions to common design problems. Performance Antipatterns document, from a performance perspective, common mistakes made during software development as well as their solutions. The definition of performance antipatterns concerns software properties that can include static, dynamic, and deployment aspects. Currently, such knowledge is only used by domain experts; the problem of automatically detecting and solving antipatterns within an architectural model had not yet been empirically addressed. In this paper we present an approach to automatically detect and solve software performance antipatterns within the Palladio architectural models: the detection of an antipattern provides a software performance feedback to designers, since it suggests the architectural alternatives to overcome specific performance problems. We implemented the approach and a case study is presented to demonstrate its validity. The system performance under study has been improved by 50% with the use of antipatterns' solutions.