Simon Butler

Simon Butler is a senior lecturer in the School of Informatics at the University of Skövde, where he undertakes research in software engineering and the Internet of Things, with a focus on the use of open source software and open hardware. He also contributes to the teaching of computer science to undergraduates.

Research Interests

Simon’s research interests concern aspects of the challenges software developers face when creating and maintaining software. He has particular interests in program comprehension and software maintenance, as well as the socio-technical and educational aspects of software development, particularly in hybrid environments where open source software and proprietary solutions are used together.

Software engineering: especially collaboration within and between organisations in the context of open source software development and the tools, and social and technical skills required to collaborate in loosely coordinated, distributed inter-organisational teams.

Identifier naming: focusing on the way identifier names are used in practice and the implications for the design and implementation of tools that analyse identifier names in source code and provide support for software engineers for program comprehension and software maintenance.

Research Projects

SUDO

SUDO: October 2020 – September 2024
SUDO is a four year collaboration between the Software Systems Research Group at the Universiy of Skövde and six software intensive businesses in Sweden. SUDO investigates challenges in standardisation and software development to identify practices and strategies that support sustainable digitalisation. Simon’s work focuses on the Internet of Things (IoT) and the challenges faced and practices used by professional developers to use open source software solutions as part of industrial software systems.
Role: Work package lead (IoT). Withdrew from project May 2023
Principal Investigator: Professor Björn Lundell

OSSD

April 2021 – March 2023
OSSD was a project to develop an advanced-level (masters) course on open source software and open systems development in a collaboration between the Software Systems Research group, members of staff in School of Informatics, and the industrial partners in the SUDO project.
Role: Education Coordinator
Principal Investigator: Professor Björn Lundell

LIM-IT

October 2016 – September 2020
The LIM-IT Project was a four year collaboration between the Software Systems Research Group at the University of Skövde and eight Swedish companies that investigated lock-in, interoperability and long-term maintenance issues, and the development of effective work practices and strategies for the adoption and use of open source software in organisations.
Role: Researcher
Principal Investigator: Professor Björn Lundell

Teaching

Object Oriented Programming

IT401G Object Oriented Programming: Course coordinator. Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024.

Operating Systems

IT391G/IT390G Operating Systems: Examiner. Autumn 2020, Autumn 2021, Autumn 2022, Autumn 2023.

Low-level Programming

IT402G Low-level Programming: Course coordinator. Spring 2021, and for course discontinuation in 2022.

Algorithms and Data Structures

IT405G Algorithms and Data Structures: Examiner. Autumn 2022, Autumn 2023.

Distributed Systems

IT413G Distributed Systems: Examiner. Autumn 2023.

Systems Development: Research and Development

IT513G Systems Development: Research and Development: Teacher. Autumn 2023.

Supervision

Undergraduate Thesis Projects

IT613G Thesis Projects within Informatics: Supervisor. Spring 2024.