Visualization and Cognition of Large-Scale Software Structure Using the k-Core Analysis

The structure of large-scale software systems are complex, and difficult to understand for developers. Traditional method can hardly describe the structural complexity in modern software. In this paper we use the complex networks theory to study software structure, in particular, we visualize software graph and use the k-core to study it based on a recursive pruning of the least connected vertices. Different types of software are analyzed and some new noticeable properties are found: such as similar coreness, the vital highest core, high-core connecting tendency, evolution stability, and these features suggest that software is organized in a defined hierarchy of increasing centrality from outside to inside, and some structure properties such as hierarchical, central can be better understood via the method of k-core analysis.