[hibernate-dev] Assistance requested for graduate research

[Phillip Meyer]

Greetings Hibernate Developers,

I'm a computer science graduate student, and in my master's thesis I am
working on evaluating algorithms that would select the "core" of a complex
software system.  The intuitive definition I am working with for this core
is:  *A subset of the software system that when studied, efficiently
imparts understanding of the total system.*

The idea is that when a new developer comes onto an unfamiliar (and
possibly poorly documented) project, if they start with learning how this
core set of most important classes work first, it will be easier for them
to understand the system as a whole.  I've got a few different potential
algorithms I'd like to validate, and one way to do so is to compare the
output with a list of what the actual developers consider the core classes.

So that's where you guys come in.  One of the software projects I've been
working with for this is Hibernate Core.  If any knowledgeable developers
would be willing to compile such a list of important classes for this
project, it would be a huge benefit for my research.  One list would be
great, or if a few are interested in participating, the more the better.  I
can expand the guidelines a bit for what I am looking for, but I wanted to
see if anyone was interested in assisting first.

If any list like this already exists, please let me know.  If anyone has
any questions, suggestions, or criticisms, feel free to offer them.

Thanks!
Phil Meyer