A Systematic Mapping of Software Engineering Approaches to Develop Big Data Systems

[Context] Data is being collected at an unprecedented scale. Data sets are becoming so large and complex that traditionally engineered systems may be inadequate to deal with them. While software engineering comprises a large set of approaches to support engineering robust software systems, there is no comprehensive overview of approaches that have been proposed and/or applied in the context of engineering big data systems. [Goal] This study aims at surveying existing research on big data software engineering to unveil and characterize the development approaches and major contributions. [Method] We conducted a systematic mapping study, identifying 52 related research papers, dated from 2011 to 2016. We classified and analyzed the identified approaches, their objectives, application domains, development lifecycle phase, and type of contribution. [Results] As a result, we outline the current state of the art and gaps on employing software engineering approaches to develop big data systems. For instance, we observed that the major challenges are in the area of software architecture and that more experimentation is needed to assess the classified approaches. [Conclusion] The results of this systematic mapping provide an overview on existing approaches to support building big data systems and helps to steer future research based on the identified gaps.