Deciding on a trade-off between the non-functional proper- ties of a system is challenging, as it is never possible to have complete information about what can be achieved. We may at first assume it is vitally important to minimise the processing requirements of a system, but if it is possible to halve the response time with only a small increase in computational power, would this cause us to change our minds? This lack of clarity makes program optimisation difficult, as it is unclear which non-functional properties to focus on improving. We propose to address this problem by applying spatial analysis techniques used in ecology to characterise and explore the landscape of non-functional properties. We can use these techniques to extract and present key information about the trade-offs that exist between non-functional properties, so that devel- opers have a clearer understanding of the decisions they are making.
['Matthew Patrick', 'Yue Jia']
Exploring the Landscape of Non-Functional Program Properties Using Spatial Analysis