Journal Article FZJ-2013-00341

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Increasing quality and managing complexity in neuroinformatics software development with continuous integration.

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2013
Frontiers Research Foundation Lausanne

Frontiers in neuroinformatics 6(31), 1-16 () [10.3389/fninf.2012.00031]

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Abstract: High quality neuroscience research requires accurate, reliable and well maintained neuroinformatics applications. As software projects become larger, offering more functionality and developing a denser web of interdependence between their component parts, we need more sophisticated methods to manage their complexity. If complexity is allowed to get out of hand, either the quality of the software or the speed of development suffer, and in many cases both. To address this issue, here we develop a scalable, low-cost and open source solution for continuous integration (CI), a technique which ensures the quality of changes to the code base during the development procedure, rather than relying on a pre-release integration phase. We demonstrate that a CI-based workflow, due to rapid feedback about code integration problems and tracking of code health measures, enabled substantial increases in productivity for a major neuroinformatics project and additional benefits for three further projects. Beyond the scope of the current study, we identify multiple areas in which CI can be employed to further increase the quality of neuroinformatics projects by improving development practices and incorporating appropriate development tools. Finally, we discuss what measures can be taken to lower the barrier for developers of neuroinformatics applications to adopt this useful technique.

Classification:

Contributing Institute(s):
  1. Jülich Supercomputing Center (JSC)
  2. Theoretical Neuroscience (IAS-6)
  3. JARA - HPC (JARA-HPC)
  4. Computational and Systems Neuroscience (INM-6)
Research Program(s):
  1. 331 - Signalling Pathways and Mechanisms in the Nervous System (POF2-331) (POF2-331)
  2. HASB - Helmholtz Alliance on Systems Biology (HGF-SystemsBiology) (HGF-SystemsBiology)
  3. SMHB - Supercomputing and Modelling for the Human Brain (HGF-SMHB-2013-2017) (HGF-SMHB-2013-2017)
  4. W2Morrison - W2/W3 Professorinnen Programm der Helmholtzgemeinschaft (B1175.01.12) (B1175.01.12)
  5. SLNS - SimLab Neuroscience (Helmholtz-SLNS) (Helmholtz-SLNS)

Appears in the scientific report 2013
Database coverage:
Medline ; Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 ; DOAJ ; OpenAccess ; SCOPUS
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The record appears in these collections:
Dokumenttypen > Aufsätze > Zeitschriftenaufsätze
JARA > JARA > JARA-JARA\-HPC
Institutssammlungen > IAS > IAS-6
Institutssammlungen > INM > INM-6
Workflowsammlungen > Öffentliche Einträge
Institutssammlungen > JSC
Publikationsdatenbank
Open Access

 Datensatz erzeugt am 2013-01-16, letzte Änderung am 2024-03-13


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