Recognition of Design Patterns in Sequence Diagrams Using Semantic Graph Matching

In the ever-evolving landscape of modern software development, the escalating complexity arising from heterogeneous environments and diverse technologies poses a formidable challenge. Despite the proven efficacy of design patterns in simplifying development and mitigating errors, the concurrent decline in comprehensive documentation has become a bottleneck. This scarcity impedes the maintenance and identification of design patterns within existing software, necessitating innovative solutions. This paper presents a novel approach and prototype for the automated recognition of design patterns gleaned from sequence diagrams embedded in software requirements specifications. The overarching objective is to empower programmers in discerning patterns within extant software through accessible documentation, thereby facilitating future maintenance and potential transformative refactoring. The proposed methodology integrates semantic-based techniques and logical representations, drawing inspiration from prior endeavours in design pattern recognition within class diagrams and the semantic rendering of sequence diagrams. An extended ontology for UML artefacts has been meticulously crafted, accompanied by the formulation of logical rules that operationalize the recognition of design patterns. The exploration of graph-based techniques, with a particular focus on hyper-graph representations in logical rules, enhances the efficiency of comparing patterns and diagrams.