The Laboratory and Its Goals

With the support of Science Foundation Ireland, the University of Limerick's Software Quality Research Laboratory (SQRL), under the direction of Prof. David Lorge Parnas, conducted applicable fundamental research in the area of software development. Using a simple mathematical model, as well as a base of practical experience, we are developing methods, notations and tools, for use in the design, precise documentation, inspection and testing of well structured software. We also worked with industrial partners to investigate and improve the practicality of our approach. SQRL employees formed a team working on a closely coordinated set of problems.

The tools and methods developed by SQRL were tested by documenting and assessing industrial products in collaboration with the owner's development personnel. The result of this cooperation was improvements in both the industrial software used in case studies and SQRL's tools and methods.

The cooperation also intended to educate industrial personnel about research results, while improving SQRL researchers understanding of industrial needs.

No Easy Road to Software Quality

Decades of research and experience have made it clear that there is no easy method or simple tool that leads to real improvements in software quality. Good software is only achieved by:

* careful and thoughtful application of sophisticated design principles
* precise well structured documentation
* disciplined and systematic attention to detail
* sound analysis methods and tools that support them.

A Dual Track Approach to Software Quality Research

The most visible product of SQRL research was to be a set of tools which would assist in the design, documentation, analysis, and testing of software products. Less visible, but no less important, was to be the software development methods that take advantage of the tools. Critical to the success of the effort was to be the experimental use of these tools and methods for the assessment of software products. It is only through experimental use of tools and methods that the tools can be improved.

Information about SQRL tools and methods will be 'public domain'. Information about a specific piece of software, produced without the use of public funds, is the property of the owner of that software.

The SQRL Team of Professional Software Researchers

The SQRL team was led by Professor David Lorge Parnas, of the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems at the University of Limerick. Prof. Parnas is one of the world's best known software engineering researchers - he has been described by his peers as 'the grandmaster of software engineering'.

Prof. Parnas has formed an international team of researchers and postgraduate students that is determined to make a real and measurable contribution to the discipline of software development. Each member of the team had both a relevant academic background and strong interest in working with industry on industrial problems.

For an overview of our research, please see this document.