The April 09 edition of the Vector Newsletter is now online.
Featured in this edition:
- A virtual Reality System
- The TRIP technology
- New Designs of Robotic Hand
- Univalor’s technologies at BioTransfer
Archive for Software
Software Developers: Why you should care about Ptidej?
The facts:
- Nearly one-third of all software projects are cancelled.
- Two-thirds of all projects encounter cost overruns of more than 200%, and over 80% of all projects are deemed failures.
- The cost of maintenance amounts to at least 50% of the overall cost of object-oriented programs.
The main reasons behind these gloom statements is that programs too often have poor quality characteristics and, in particular, a poor maintainability. This poor maintainability arises as a consequence of (implementation of) architectures with low quality.
Here comes Ptidej!
If many solutions try to help developers in their tasks, most of them do not explore the real structure of the program.
Over the last years, Yann-Gaël Gueheneuc (Professor at Université de Montréal and now at École Polytechnique de Montreal) has been analyzing the architecture of object-oriented programs. He later came up with Ptidej.
Ptidej understands the structure of any object oriented programs, detects its flaws (based on a set of rules), and suggests a correction.
In a metaphor, one could compare Ptidej to the grammatical corrector of MS World while currently available products could be more associated with its spell checker.
How it works? Yann and his team develped a proprietary language that allows anyone to define an error to detect (The current version detects the most reported ones: blob, spaghetti code, etc…).
What’s next? Offering free beta tests in return for feedbacks
A free beta version of Ptidej is availble on Flintbox. It allows you to test your own program (in Java) and identify potential flaws.
It is, of course, our intention to commercially deploy Ptidej. In the meantime, we are welcoming any feedbacks and/or partnerships with companies, investors or entrepreneurs willing to collaborate with us to bring Ptidej to market.
Please feel free to contact me if you require more information.
Cheers,
Thomas
Further info about Ptidej:
Demo version
Video
Presentation in the Vector Newsletter
sources:
1: William J. Brown, “AntiPatterns: Refactoring Software, Architectures, and Projects in Crisis”
2: Jussi Koskinen, Software Maintenance Costs
3: Bennet P. Lientz, Problems in application software maintenance
Protect Yourself from Cyber-Criminality
You may have heard about corporations and government agencies, such as TJ Maxx or the United States Veteran Affairs, which have lost and paid out millions of dollars to recover from data breach fallout. Protecting Personal Identification Information or Intellectual Property materials is now a challenge for companies.
For that reason, data loss protection technologies (also known as anti-data leakage) become more and more popular because they provide companies with a solution to prevent from data breaches but also from their associated costs (negative public exposure, brand name damage, etc…).
While looking for a solution to fight against web juvenile pornography, Prof. Jean-Pierre David (Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal) came up with a method to detect in real-time and at very high speed (10Gbit/s and more) the transmission of known files over a network.
Since it works at very high transmission data-rate, it can be placed directly at the company gateway and offers a solution to prevent unauthorized files from leaving it.
As usual, your comments and feedback are very welcome. Further information is also available on flintbox. You may also contact me for more detailed information.
Interested in identyfing design defects in software?
We are looking for early adopters for testing a platform that detects design defects in object oriented applications (existing or in development).
This platform was initiated by professor Yann-Gaël Guéhéneuc from École Polytechnique de Montréal and Université de Montréal. It targets java based programs but can be extend to C# and C++. This platform (called Ptidej) allows for quickly identifying design defects patterns such as blob, spaghetti code, etc. when such defects can lead to reduce the performances of applications and eventually malfunctioning, requiring then major corrections.
Ptidej has the following characteristics:
• It is fast and can be used within any development step;
• It is reliable and the user can define the sensibility of detection; and
• It can be upgrated since it provides a language allowing any user to define a cutsomized pattern detection.
In term of uses, this technology can be used for:
• Controlling the development of an application;
• Assessing the performances of an application prior to its deployment;
• Validating an application developed by a third party; and/or
• As a management tool for managers (hiring process, training, self-training).
Yann-Gael Guéhéneuc and his team are currently working on 1. Improving the tool and 2. Suggesting some particular routes for correcting indentified defects.
While there is still basic research involved, the goal is not academic. Depending on the feedback gathered we are seeking to deploy this platform into the market. On a short term, and considering the work to be done in order to stabilize the current version of Ptidej as well as extending its capabilities, we are considering applying for a technology maturation grant from MDEIE in January 2009. While feedback from potential users is instrumental to such application, we will also be looking for commercial partners, angels and/or entrepreneurs sharing the same views as us with Ptidej’s potential.
We encourage you to download the test version of Ptidej here Ptidej and relay this opportunity in your network
We look forward to hearing from you
Didier
Solution against Child Pornography
Governments, Public Security Agencies or any Organization that needs to control or ensure the transmission of files now has the opportunity to go beyond current limited real-time cyber-surveillance solutions technologies (sniffers).
To remedy the problems of slow speeds and heavy computing resources of current sniffer technologies, Professor Jean-Pierre David, École Polytechnique de Montréal, has proposed a system that enables real-time file content detection and tracking over a network.
This system has three components: a database of indexed files to be monitored, an optimized algorithm, and hardware to implement the algorithm (an FPGA board or on chip depending on volume).
When one of the protected files passes into a network, it is automatically detected by the system, a report indicating the transmission is sent, and an alarm is set off. Depending on the application, its transmission can even be blocked before it arrives at its destination.
Advantages:
- Does not depend on data transmission protocols.
- Protected files are not tagged.
- Can be applied to all types of data files and formats, including compressed files.
- Detectable data transmissions include the downloading or uploading of webpages or the transmission of emails.
- Works at 10Gbit/s and more.
Current known limitations:
- Detection and tracking performance may be reduced with encrypted files.
- Depending on applications, installing numerous sub-systems of the hardware and algorithm could be required.
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This technology is now fully tested and available for licensing. Further information is available upon request (under NDA).
How are you improving your BI?
If you have hard time to extract information residing in databases or in the deep web, you may have an interest in hearing about DIET.
DIET can be demonstrated through a WebEx. If you have 10-15 min, it will be a pleasure for us to organize this for you.
DIET is not currently fully packaged and not ready for sale and we’re evaluating the market and potential applications. We are then interested in having your views on its use as a business intelligence tool.
