Software reconnexion: understanding software using a variation on software reconnaissance and reflexion modelling

Software reflexion modelling is a useful technique to assist the understanding of large software systems. However, the technique relies heavily upon available documentation and domain knowledge to begin the process. We propose a technique called software reconnexion that uses a reuse perspective of software, containing core elements of the subject system, to prompt the user during the early iterations of the reflexion modelling process, thus reducing the technique's dependency upon documentation and domain knowledge. We provide a large, ecologically valid, case study to demonstrate our technique and show, in the absence of documentation and with only limited domain knowledge, how an automatically generated reuse perspective of software can be effectively used in conjunction with reflexion modelling to aid the design recovery and comprehension of an unfamiliar system.