Quantum software engineering aims to establish methodologies, tools, and frameworks to support the development of functional and maintainable quantum applications. A critical aspect within this domain is the maintainability of quantum software, which pertains to the capacity of the system for modification, correction, or evolution over time. Modifiability is particularly significant, as it encompasses mechanisms that enable software to be altered effectively and efficiently without introducing defects or compromising quality. Despite its importance, there has been limited discussion on addressing modifiability in quantum software. Moreover, there is little information on studies that translate maintainability concerns into specific modifiability scenarios. In this paper, we present our investigation on defining a modifiability scenario for quantum software, characterized by sources of stimuli, stimuli, software artifacts related to modifiability, environment, responses to the stimuli, and measures of those responses. We examined the release and version histories of 18 quantum software projects to extract the data from each version. Preliminary findings outline the development of a concrete modifiability scenario for quantum software that facilitates the implementation of defined responses within the modifiability scenario in quantum software.

DevOps is an approach to automated software development and deployment that combines development and operations, with the goal of improving collaboration between teams to optimize the software lifecycle processes, from planning and development to testing, deployment, and monitoring. Despite being an innovative approach, DevOps presents a significant challenge for students in understanding and implementing software development projects. This challenge includes understanding the problem to the solution abstraction that contemplates the design, implementation, and automation of the software development process. This study proposes and evaluates a methodological framework to support students in defining DevOps-oriented technology stacks. The framework combines software architecture and software engineering practices that collectively provide a learning approach based on design decision-making and selection of technologies, frameworks, and tools. We evaluated the framework in two iterations of a capstone course, using a case study that considered the implementation of a DevOps stack on (i) a pre-existing system and (ii) a system from scratch. Results show that students who implemented a DevOps-oriented stack on systems developed from scratch were successful, but those who implemented it on a pre-existing system confronted challenges in configuration management and system flexibility. The proposed framework facilitates the pedagogical experience of implementing DevOps in software development projects, thus rendering it beneficial for students.

Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) is a novel security approach for building secure systems. ZTA-based systems are built with specific security mechanisms to enforce their basic tenets, for example, explicit verification and least privilege. Although existing security mechanisms have been useful in building ZTA-based systems, the current literature does not provide clear guidance on which security mechanisms should be used by developers of these systems. This article describes the design and results of a systematic mapping study to identify the security mechanisms used in the building of ZTA-based systems. The review yielded 290 articles, of which 30 primary studies were selected. Key findings are: (i) 24 different security mechanisms were reported; (ii) 37 % of them are classified into access control techniques to implement ZTA least priveleges tenet; (iii) ABAC and AIM are the most used mechanisms; (iv) over half of security mechanisms (69 %) focus on resisting attacks (instead of detecting or recovering); and (v) experimentation is a predominant empirical strategy within ZTA security research. The identification of these security mechanisms will enable developers of ZTA-based systems to effectively address the security challenges associated with implementing ZTA tenets.

Microservices is an architectural style that conceives systems as a modular, costumer, independent and scalable suite of services; it offers several advantages but its growing popularity has given rise to security challenges. Building secure systems is greatly helped by deploying existing security mechanisms, but current literature does not guide developers about which mechanisms are actually used by developers of microservices-based systems. This article describes the design and results of a systematic mapping study to identify the security mechanisms used in microservices-based systems described in the literature. The study yielded 321 articles, of which 26 are primary studies. Key findings are that (i) the studies mention 18 security mechanisms; (ii) the most mentioned security mechanisms are authentication, authorization and credentials; and (iii) almost 2/3 of security mechanisms focus on stopping or mitigating attacks, but none on recovering from them. Additionally, it emerges that experiments and case studies are the most used empirical strategies in microservices security research. The clear identification of most-used security solutions will facilitate the reuse of existing architectural knowledge to address security problems in microservices-based systems.