Guidelines on the use of Fit tables in Software Maintenance Tasks: Lessons Learned from 8 Experiments

Executable acceptance test case-in particular Fit (Framework for Integrated Test) tables-originally intended for the development phase proved useful in maintenance activities too. Empirical evidence suggests that Fit tables are useful in improving the comprehension of change requirements and the correctness of the maintained code. Stemming from eight experiments formerly performed by the authors, this paper presents a set of lessons learned and guidelines useful for project managers on the use of Fit tables in maintenance tasks. Specifically, the paper discusses the use of Fit tables in maintenance tasks considering a set of dimensions, ranging from maintainerspsila experience to the nature of application being maintained and to the kind of benefits introduced by Fit tables. Benefits of Fit tables, such as improving the code correctness and comprehension, increase with developers experience and complex requirements but decrease with Web-based applications and when programmers work in pairs.