3 articles involving NASA and NASA-SEL (software engineeering & process improvement)

3 interesting articles on NASA and the NASA Software Engineering Laboratory (NASA-SEL). Final links are 2 clicks away (sorry I am grouping this info here):

1. Rise and fall of the NASA-SEL (about process improvement and some pitfalls during the implementation): http://silvaonsoftware.blogspot.pt/2016/08/ieee-xplore-abstract-lessons-learned.html
2. The code of the Apollo 11 mission (man on the moon mission) was retyped, filled in and published on Github (!): http://everything-techie-under-the-sun.blogspot.pt/2016/07/the-code-that-took-america-to-moon-was.html (this one explains the BURN BABY BURN routine and much more).
3. And some history on the alarms it raised during the mission: http://silvaonsoftware.blogspot.pt/2016/08/apollo-11-lunar-surface-journal-program.html
4. A video of the emulator working: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyhI85Rd1kI

Updated: 2018-04-03, emulator video.

IEEE Xplore Abstract - Lessons learned from 25 years of process improvement: the rise and fall of the NASA-SEL

Interesting article on NASA Software Engineering Laboratory (NASA-SEL):

IEEE Xplore Abstract - Lessons learned from 25 years of process improvement: the rise and fall of the NASA software enginee...

Abstract:

"Lessons learned from 25 years of process improvement: The Rise and Fall of the NASA Software Engineering Laboratory. For 25 years the NASA/GSFC Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) has been a major resource in software process improvement activities. But due to a changing climate at NASA, agency reorganization, and budget cuts, the SEL has lost much of its impact. In this paper we describe the history of the SEL and give some lessons learned on what we did right, what we did wrong, and what others can learn from our experiences. We briefly describe the research that was conducted by the SEL, describe how we evolved our understanding of software process improvement, and provide a set of lessons learned and hypotheses that should enable future groups to learn from and improve on our quarter century of experiences."

PDF: https://www.cs.umd.edu/~basili/publications/proceedings/P94.pdf

Apollo 11 Lunar Surface Journal: Program Alarms (That Occurred During the Mission)

Interesting insights on the Apollo 11 Mission (that took the man to the moon, now that the code was published as it was pointed out), the computer architecture and the assembly programming language that was used with it and some program alarms that it raised during the mission:

• Apollo 11 Lunar Surface Journal: Program Alarms

TOOLS: UML tools list

One extensive list of UML tools can be found here:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Unified_Modeling_Language_tools

To check:

• ArgoUML
• UMLet

Other already referred here around include:

• Enterprise Architect - Sparx Systems
• MagicDraw

Code Review Target Values for Metrics: Example

Targets for code review activities could be set. One example could be (NEOSAT - Phase B example):

Target values for metrics:

Metric	Reference Values	Min / Max Values
Defects corrected after document reviews	100%	Min
Number of tests failing before TRR	0	Max
Requirements covered by Validation	100%	Min
Structural analysis: Statement coverage	100%	Min
Structural analysis: Decision coverage	100%	Min
Nesting Level	5	Max
Cyclomatic complexity	15	Max
LOC per procedure	100	Max
Code comment frequency	20%	Min

The SUR (Subject under review) will then have to be scanned regarding whether it meets those requirements or not. Attributes like these could be mandated by international standards, customers, company internal coding standards and/or internal project coding standards / guidelines. 

TOOL: Mind maps online - Mindmup

A fully online (works with keyboard only) for creating (and exporting) mind maps. Integrates with Google Drive and exports to PDF, PNG and Freemind (*.mm) format:

https://www.mindmup.com/

Whenever Freemind or X-Mind is not installed but ideas break (and you have a browser and WWW access available).

(@2016-11-17: Added X-Mind link)

TOOL: Screen shot grabber - Shotty - Overview

Yet another screen shot grabber: Shotty - Overview

Shotty allows you to temporarily host the screen shots under http://images.devs-on.net/en/Default.aspx and a few more providers.

PS. Not to be used if you want to store evidences after the software development project closure (development phase, testing phase) but good enough for some projects where you merely want to attach a screen shot to an issue and you don't have a file server with a network share available to do it.