November 22, 2021 • 13 mins
In this episode we speak with Olivier Bouzereau from OW2 about the DECODER project and how their commitment to open source technologies will make their work available to developers around the world.
The DECODER project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 824231.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Intro (00:01):
This is a Technikon podcast.
Peter Balint (host) (00:08):
You rely on software every day. Maybe you haven't thought
about it, but it's true. Regardless of who you are,
or what you do chances are that you are benefiting
in some way from embedded code, which works in the background.
Right now, for example, as you are listening to me,
there is software working for you. Hello, I'm Peter Balint
(00:29):
from Technikon, and today we look at the world of
software development. This field is becoming increasingly complex, and the
development process remains expensive and many times un-unified. At a
time where the need for software is exploding in the
advent of the Internet of Things, something needs to change.
(00:50):
The partners in the DECODER project know this. They are
building an integrated development environment as an open source solution.
This environment will help to level out the inconsistencies in
the development process and provide state of the art tools
to ensure that software developed in the EU becomes reusable,
efficient and adaptable. Today, we sit down with Olivier Bouzereau
(01:14):
from OW2. OW2 is a valuable partner in DECODER because
they promote open source solutions for real-world business and industrial environments.
Let's go into the studio. Welcome to the podcast, and
thanks for coming on today.
Olivier Bouzereau (01:33):
Thank you.
Peter Balint (host) (01:34):
We talked a bit about DECODER in the intro, but
what can you tell us?
Olivier Bouzereau (01:38):
Sure. DECODER is an open, research and innovation project. It
received the funding from the European Union's H2020 programme... Horizon 2020,
and the activities in the project involving seven organisations from
four European countries. One University in Spain, UPV , one
(02:05):
research research centre, CEA List in France, two industrial partners
and three SMEs, OW2, Technikon and Tree Technologies. DECODER is
building a software project intelligence platform to shorten the learning
(02:25):
curve of all new software contributors. they could be programmers, testers,
maintenance operators. It is using, in fact, the internally NLP
and machine learning AI techniques to improve software understanding and to accelerate...
to speed up updates while the software code is being
(02:49):
considered as a natural language, which is an original approach.
And along with existing software quality and security tools, the
decoder platform is able to share knowledge within the DevOps teams,
for instance. And for that, it can be in line
with agile programmation, agile development and CI/CD pipelines.
Peter Balint (host) (03:14):
And you, of course, are working for 0W2 which is
an organization promoting open source software. Tell us the role
of 0W2 in decoder.
Olivier Bouzereau (03:24):
Sure. OW2 is an independent community dedicated to promoting open
source software for information systems and to fostering their business ecosystems. Presently,
OW2 federates 50... more than 50 organisations and more than
2500 I.T. professionals worldwide. We are hosting more than 50
(03:49):
technology projects, including BlueMind, KnowAge , Lutece, OCS inventory Rocket.Chat,
XWiki , for instance. And in order to test the
DECODER platform, OW2 applies the technologies developed by the project partners
to a selection of Java codes from the OW2 code base.
(04:12):
So we are also the dissemination partner in DECODER. OW2
provides the collaborative infrastructure to all participants in the project.
And we also represent the project on online through the
website and social media, during the webinars and whenever possible,
physically at industry trade, show trade shows and scientific conferences.
Peter Balint (host) (04:36):
So the trade show business is slowly coming back. But
social media, meanwhile, is exploding. And as dissemination partner, you
must ensure that communication about the project is effective and
directed towards the right audience.
Olivier Bouzereau (04:50):
Correct. We are planning several events and even hybrid events,
partly online and physically in conference rooms.
Peter Balint (host) (05:02):
And let's go back to the overarching goal of DECODER,
which is to make software development more streamlined, more efficient
and more resilient to fluctuations in the users and environments.
Simply put, DECODER aims to make sure that developers are on
the same page. And this has quite a value for
(05:22):
a new or temporary developer. Is that about right?
Olivier Bouzereau (05:26):
That's right. In fact, the central component in DECODER is
a database... a knowledge base which is called the PKM
for Persistent Knowledge Manager. And we are collecting knowledge about
the software code of each components in a project. So
this could be from the comments of the the developers,
(05:49):
but also from automatic analysis of the code.
Peter Balint (host) (05:53):
So this PKM that you have mentioned, is this a
tangible outcome from decoder?
Olivier Bouzereau (05:59):
Yes, it is. It's a central knowledge base that has
been designed based on the Mongo database. We have also
developed a set of models and tools that are made
available through the PKM and on the front end side, the
DECODER orchestrator is a web client that provides the unified
(06:20):
view of the software to all stakeholders.
Peter Balint (host) (06:24):
And everything you're doing is Open-Source right?
Olivier Bouzereau (06:26):
Correct.
Peter Balint (host) (06:27):
And for those of you who aren't aware, open source
software is software with source code that anyone can inspect,
modify or enhance.
Olivier Bouzereau (06:36):
Exactly
Peter Balint (host) (06:36):
Why is it so important for DECODER to be developed
in this way?
Olivier Bouzereau (06:40):
Sure. As you know, when public money is invested, public
code is a natural choice, and the DECODER is a
project that received funding from the European Union program H 2020.
So the full source code being made available open source
research projects simplifies the use and the co-development of software
(07:03):
with several new partners and with external contributors. Now and
as well as in the future. So starting next year...
early next year the platform... DECODER platform, it's methodology and
tools will be an OW2 open source project freely available to all.
So anyone could contribute. DECODER designers are not only open
(07:26):
source advocates, they want to provide the software project intelligence
platform to increase the productivity and the quality of all
software contributors.
Peter Balint (host) (07:36):
Some listeners might be asking about the security of open
source products. How do you address this concern?
Olivier Bouzereau (07:42):
At OW2 we are very concerned by this question, in fact, and
we help also companies embrace open source software and have
governance around open source. So, this is a challenge at OW2
which we often have. We have the market readiness levels,
which is which is a business oriented approach to open
(08:06):
source projects, which is unique to the OW2. And we
want by this MRL is the adoption of a OW2
software by mainstream decision makers, those that that are not
necessarily familiar with open source. We also have an initiative
which is called open source good governance initiative. It is,
(08:28):
if you want the blueprint for the implementation of, OSPO,
OSPO being open source program offices that is available in
any kind of organization, it provides a comprehensive approach for
professionally managing relations with the world of open source software.
Peter Balint (host) (08:48):
So with the proper governance, open source can be quite
a secure option for development.
Olivier Bouzereau (08:53):
Yes, it is the goal, in fact, as in in a company,
you have CSOs, chief security officer. We think that we
will see more and more people involved in the good
governance of open source software.
Peter Balint (host) (09:07):
When we first talked about outcomes, you mentioned a beta
testing campaign. What is the status there?
Olivier Bouzereau (09:13):
Three beta testing campaigns have been planned for the project
so far. Two of them are currently life campaigns. You
can find them, by the way, on the software menu
of the decoder website,
Peter Balint (host) (09:24):
...which I will add is decoder-project.eu
Olivier Bouzereau (09:29):
Exactly. The first tool is JMLGen. JMLGen is a utility
available through the ReachOut platform so that beta testers can
try it in their own environment. What is doing, JML it's
generates JML annotations from what can be guessed out of
(09:50):
the Java project, and the result is a JML annotated project
that can be processed by other JML tools like the
OpenJML program. Verification tool. Another tool is doc to JSON.
It's a utility also that is available through reachout. This time,
(10:11):
the beta tester can extract text or data from any
open office documents to a JSON format. And the third beta
testing campaign... what it's doing it's providing the beta release
of the DECODER platform, possibly as a docker image.
Peter Balint (host) (10:29):
So DECODER is not just academic then.
Olivier Bouzereau (10:32):
Sure. Sure, sure. It's a RIA so research and innovation action.
In fact, the Horizon 2020 programme is really looking at
concrete outcomes from these projects that could be reused in
other projects.
Peter Balint (host) (10:48):
And the way you describe it, one could easily see
the benefit on the software development community. But what about
the average citizen in the EU? How would they benefit?
Olivier Bouzereau (10:57):
There will be probably several benefits, but not direct benefits
to the average European citizens will be through the software
he is using. So the current trends in the software
engineering is to provide quick, fast updates to any platform,
any software so DECODER here will play a central role
(11:22):
to help contributors to understand the more exactly what the
whole platform on the whole software could be... an IoT Software,
for instance, Internet of Things... solution or a cloud solution
or big data solution. So these implies a lots of
(11:42):
different components and middleware and database, so it's difficult to
have...for a developer in such a program it's difficult to
have a complete view and a general understanding of what
the software is actually doing. So the developer will help
and will contribute in the in the knowledge sharing.
Peter Balint (host) (12:04):
So a benefit could be faster software development and rapid
rollouts of apps, for example.
Olivier Bouzereau (12:10):
Yes, it could be that, but it's also focused on
software quality and software security. If we know what we
are doing, when you when we change something in the
software component, it's it's easier to control the way it
will provide the exact features it should provide and with
(12:31):
the security level that the users are expecting.
Peter Balint (host) (12:35):
So the bottom line is decoder is poised to bring efficient,
safe and secure solutions to the software development world.
Olivier Bouzereau (12:42):
That's correct
Peter Balint (host) (12:44):
And this affects all of us. Thank you, Olivier, for
joining us today and giving us a glimpse inside DECODER.
Olivier Bouzereau (12:50):
Thank you very much for listening and asking your questions.
S1 (12:58):
This podcast has been brought to you by Technikn. For
more information about DECODER, go to decoder-project.eu. The DECODER project
has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research
and innovation program and a grant agreement No. 824231
This is a Technikon podcast.
Peter Balint (host) (00:08):
You rely on software every day. Maybe you haven't thought
about it, but it's true. Regardless of who you are,
or what you do chances are that you are benefiting
in some way from embedded code, which works in the background.
Right now, for example, as you are listening to me,
there is software working for you. Hello, I'm Peter Balint
(00:29):
from Technikon, and today we look at the world of
software development. This field is becoming increasingly complex, and the
development process remains expensive and many times un-unified. At a
time where the need for software is exploding in the
advent of the Internet of Things, something needs to change.
(00:50):
The partners in the DECODER project know this. They are
building an integrated development environment as an open source solution.
This environment will help to level out the inconsistencies in
the development process and provide state of the art tools
to ensure that software developed in the EU becomes reusable,
efficient and adaptable. Today, we sit down with Olivier Bouzereau
(01:14):
from OW2. OW2 is a valuable partner in DECODER because
they promote open source solutions for real-world business and industrial environments.
Let's go into the studio. Welcome to the podcast, and
thanks for coming on today.
Olivier Bouzereau (01:33):
Thank you.
Peter Balint (host) (01:34):
We talked a bit about DECODER in the intro, but
what can you tell us?
Olivier Bouzereau (01:38):
Sure. DECODER is an open, research and innovation project. It
received the funding from the European Union's H2020 programme... Horizon 2020,
and the activities in the project involving seven organisations from
four European countries. One University in Spain, UPV , one
(02:05):
research research centre, CEA List in France, two industrial partners
and three SMEs, OW2, Technikon and Tree Technologies. DECODER is
building a software project intelligence platform to shorten the learning
(02:25):
curve of all new software contributors. they could be programmers, testers,
maintenance operators. It is using, in fact, the internally NLP
and machine learning AI techniques to improve software understanding and to accelerate...
to speed up updates while the software code is being
(02:49):
considered as a natural language, which is an original approach.
And along with existing software quality and security tools, the
decoder platform is able to share knowledge within the DevOps teams,
for instance. And for that, it can be in line
with agile programmation, agile development and CI/CD pipelines.
Peter Balint (host) (03:14):
And you, of course, are working for 0W2 which is
an organization promoting open source software. Tell us the role
of 0W2 in decoder.
Olivier Bouzereau (03:24):
Sure. OW2 is an independent community dedicated to promoting open
source software for information systems and to fostering their business ecosystems. Presently,
OW2 federates 50... more than 50 organisations and more than
2500 I.T. professionals worldwide. We are hosting more than 50
(03:49):
technology projects, including BlueMind, KnowAge , Lutece, OCS inventory Rocket.Chat,
XWiki , for instance. And in order to test the
DECODER platform, OW2 applies the technologies developed by the project partners
to a selection of Java codes from the OW2 code base.
(04:12):
So we are also the dissemination partner in DECODER. OW2
provides the collaborative infrastructure to all participants in the project.
And we also represent the project on online through the
website and social media, during the webinars and whenever possible,
physically at industry trade, show trade shows and scientific conferences.
Peter Balint (host) (04:36):
So the trade show business is slowly coming back. But
social media, meanwhile, is exploding. And as dissemination partner, you
must ensure that communication about the project is effective and
directed towards the right audience.
Olivier Bouzereau (04:50):
Correct. We are planning several events and even hybrid events,
partly online and physically in conference rooms.
Peter Balint (host) (05:02):
And let's go back to the overarching goal of DECODER,
which is to make software development more streamlined, more efficient
and more resilient to fluctuations in the users and environments.
Simply put, DECODER aims to make sure that developers are on
the same page. And this has quite a value for
(05:22):
a new or temporary developer. Is that about right?
Olivier Bouzereau (05:26):
That's right. In fact, the central component in DECODER is
a database... a knowledge base which is called the PKM
for Persistent Knowledge Manager. And we are collecting knowledge about
the software code of each components in a project. So
this could be from the comments of the the developers,
(05:49):
but also from automatic analysis of the code.
Peter Balint (host) (05:53):
So this PKM that you have mentioned, is this a
tangible outcome from decoder?
Olivier Bouzereau (05:59):
Yes, it is. It's a central knowledge base that has
been designed based on the Mongo database. We have also
developed a set of models and tools that are made
available through the PKM and on the front end side, the
DECODER orchestrator is a web client that provides the unified
(06:20):
view of the software to all stakeholders.
Peter Balint (host) (06:24):
And everything you're doing is Open-Source right?
Olivier Bouzereau (06:26):
Correct.
Peter Balint (host) (06:27):
And for those of you who aren't aware, open source
software is software with source code that anyone can inspect,
modify or enhance.
Olivier Bouzereau (06:36):
Exactly
Peter Balint (host) (06:36):
Why is it so important for DECODER to be developed
in this way?
Olivier Bouzereau (06:40):
Sure. As you know, when public money is invested, public
code is a natural choice, and the DECODER is a
project that received funding from the European Union program H 2020.
So the full source code being made available open source
research projects simplifies the use and the co-development of software
(07:03):
with several new partners and with external contributors. Now and
as well as in the future. So starting next year...
early next year the platform... DECODER platform, it's methodology and
tools will be an OW2 open source project freely available to all.
So anyone could contribute. DECODER designers are not only open
(07:26):
source advocates, they want to provide the software project intelligence
platform to increase the productivity and the quality of all
software contributors.
Peter Balint (host) (07:36):
Some listeners might be asking about the security of open
source products. How do you address this concern?
Olivier Bouzereau (07:42):
At OW2 we are very concerned by this question, in fact, and
we help also companies embrace open source software and have
governance around open source. So, this is a challenge at OW2
which we often have. We have the market readiness levels,
which is which is a business oriented approach to open
(08:06):
source projects, which is unique to the OW2. And we
want by this MRL is the adoption of a OW2
software by mainstream decision makers, those that that are not
necessarily familiar with open source. We also have an initiative
which is called open source good governance initiative. It is,
(08:28):
if you want the blueprint for the implementation of, OSPO,
OSPO being open source program offices that is available in
any kind of organization, it provides a comprehensive approach for
professionally managing relations with the world of open source software.
Peter Balint (host) (08:48):
So with the proper governance, open source can be quite
a secure option for development.
Olivier Bouzereau (08:53):
Yes, it is the goal, in fact, as in in a company,
you have CSOs, chief security officer. We think that we
will see more and more people involved in the good
governance of open source software.
Peter Balint (host) (09:07):
When we first talked about outcomes, you mentioned a beta
testing campaign. What is the status there?
Olivier Bouzereau (09:13):
Three beta testing campaigns have been planned for the project
so far. Two of them are currently life campaigns. You
can find them, by the way, on the software menu
of the decoder website,
Peter Balint (host) (09:24):
...which I will add is decoder-project.eu
Olivier Bouzereau (09:29):
Exactly. The first tool is JMLGen. JMLGen is a utility
available through the ReachOut platform so that beta testers can
try it in their own environment. What is doing, JML it's
generates JML annotations from what can be guessed out of
(09:50):
the Java project, and the result is a JML annotated project
that can be processed by other JML tools like the
OpenJML program. Verification tool. Another tool is doc to JSON.
It's a utility also that is available through reachout. This time,
(10:11):
the beta tester can extract text or data from any
open office documents to a JSON format. And the third beta
testing campaign... what it's doing it's providing the beta release
of the DECODER platform, possibly as a docker image.
Peter Balint (host) (10:29):
So DECODER is not just academic then.
Olivier Bouzereau (10:32):
Sure. Sure, sure. It's a RIA so research and innovation action.
In fact, the Horizon 2020 programme is really looking at
concrete outcomes from these projects that could be reused in
other projects.
Peter Balint (host) (10:48):
And the way you describe it, one could easily see
the benefit on the software development community. But what about
the average citizen in the EU? How would they benefit?
Olivier Bouzereau (10:57):
There will be probably several benefits, but not direct benefits
to the average European citizens will be through the software
he is using. So the current trends in the software
engineering is to provide quick, fast updates to any platform,
any software so DECODER here will play a central role
(11:22):
to help contributors to understand the more exactly what the
whole platform on the whole software could be... an IoT Software,
for instance, Internet of Things... solution or a cloud solution
or big data solution. So these implies a lots of
(11:42):
different components and middleware and database, so it's difficult to
have...for a developer in such a program it's difficult to
have a complete view and a general understanding of what
the software is actually doing. So the developer will help
and will contribute in the in the knowledge sharing.
Peter Balint (host) (12:04):
So a benefit could be faster software development and rapid
rollouts of apps, for example.
Olivier Bouzereau (12:10):
Yes, it could be that, but it's also focused on
software quality and software security. If we know what we
are doing, when you when we change something in the
software component, it's it's easier to control the way it
will provide the exact features it should provide and with
(12:31):
the security level that the users are expecting.
Peter Balint (host) (12:35):
So the bottom line is decoder is poised to bring efficient,
safe and secure solutions to the software development world.
Olivier Bouzereau (12:42):
That's correct
Peter Balint (host) (12:44):
And this affects all of us. Thank you, Olivier, for
joining us today and giving us a glimpse inside DECODER.
Olivier Bouzereau (12:50):
Thank you very much for listening and asking your questions.
S1 (12:58):
This podcast has been brought to you by Technikn. For
more information about DECODER, go to decoder-project.eu. The DECODER project
has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research
and innovation program and a grant agreement No. 824231
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