Software engineering practices for scientific software development: A systematic mapping study

Abstract Background: The development of scientific software applications is far from trivial, due to the constant increase in necessary complexity these applications, their increasing size, and need for intensive maintenance reuse. Aim: To this end, developers (who usually lack a formal computer science background) use appropriate engineering (SE) practices. This paper describes results systematic mapping study on SE application impact quality. Method: achieve goal we have performed 359 papers. We first describe catalog practices used development. Then, discuss quality attributes interest that drive practices, as well tentative side-effects applying qualities. Results: main findings indicate are focusing improve implementation productivity, such code reuse, third-party libraries, “good” programming techniques. In addition, apart finding performance key-driver many also find maintainability productivity be important. Conclusions: compared existing literature, interpreted under prism, various implications researchers practitioners provided. One key study, which considered important driving future research endeavors evidence trade-offs made when practice, i.e., negative (indirect) effects other attributes.