Designing for Extensibility: An action research study of maximizing extensibility by means of design principles

Abstract: This paper presents an action research study on how a set of design principles applicable to object oriented languages can be used to counteract code rot and consequentially enhance system extensibility. The study describes how these principles help support the system quality attributes of modifiability, maintainability and scalability, as well as how these quality attributes correlate to extensibility. Furthermore, it also elaborates on the relationship between extensibility and code rot and how the absence of the first can lead to the latter. The study thus contributes by illustrating how a design science approach can be useful in action research.