Last updated on Monday, October 06, 2025
@article{VanGeetIEEESoftware2010,
author = {Joris Van Geet and Serge Demeyer},
journal = {{IEEE} Software},
month = jul,
note = {SCI impact factor 2.039, ranked 14/93 in Computer
Science, Software Engineering --- 2009},
publisher = {{IEEE} Press},
title = {Reverse engineering on the Mainframe - Lessons
Learned from ``in vivo'' Research},
year = {2010},
abstract = {Despite growth in the popularity of desktop systems,
Web applications, and mobile computing, mainframe
systems remain the dominant force in large-scale
enterprise computing. Although they're sometimes
referred to as "the dinosaurs of computing," even
mainframe systems must adapt to changing
circumstances to survive. Although
reverse-engineering and reengineering techniques can
help identify and achieve these adaptations, current
techniques are mainly geared mainly toward more
modern environments, languages, and platforms. It
remains to be seen whether successful techniques can
be easily transferred to a mainframe context. This
article reports on the application of two proven
reverse-engineering techniques (software
visualization and feature location) in the context of
mainframe systems. The authors conclude that these
techniques remain viable but become very labor
intensive when implemented on a per-project basis.},
annote = {internationaljournal},
doi = {10.1109/MS.2010.65},
}