The Build / Comprehend Pipelines
Richard C. Holt, Michael W. Godfrey, Andrew J. Malton · 2003
Large software systems often have complex subparts and complex build processes, and engage in subtle relationships with the underlying technologies from which they are designed and constructed. Most reverse engineering toolkits ignore the attributes and relationships of system construction; instead, they concentrate on static relationships among externally visible source code elements. This paper takes the position that the comprehension process for a large software system should mimic the system’s build process.