Reusability in software engineering

This paper surveys recent work concerning reusability in software engineering. The current directions in software reusability are discussed, and the two major approaches of reusable building blocks and reusable patterns studied. An extensive bibliography, parts of which are annotated, is included

Quantifying Functional Reuse from Object Oriented Requirements Specifications

Software reuse is essential in improving efficiency and productivity in the software development process. This paper analyses reuse within requirements engineering phase by taking and adapting a standard functional size measurement method, COSMIC FFP. Our proposal attempts to quantify reusability from Object Oriented requirements specifications by identifying potential primitives with a high level of reusability and applying a reuse indicator. These requirements are specified using OO-Method, an automatic software production method based on transformation models. We illustrate the application of our proposal in a Car Rental real system

Research Article Software Component Selection Based on Quality Criteria Using the Analytic Network Process

Component based software development (CBSD) endeavors to deliver cost-effective and quality software systems through the selection and integration of commercially available software components. CBSD emphasizes the design and development of software systems using preexisting components. Software component reusability is an indispensable part of component based software development life cycle (CBSDLC),which consumes a significant amount of organization’s resources, that is, time and effort. It is convenient in component based software system (CBSS) to select the most suitable and appropriate software components that provide all the required functionalities. Selecting the most appropriate components is crucial for the success of the entire system. However, decisions regarding software component reusability are often made in an ad hoc manner, which ultimately results in schedule delay and lowers the entire quality system. In this paper, we have discussed the analytic network process (ANP) method for software component selection. The methodology is explained and assessed using a real life case study

A Metrics-based Framework for Measuring the Reusability of Object-Oriented Software Components

The critical role played by software in socioeconomic advancement, has seen a rapid demand for software; creating a large backlog in affordable and quality software that needs to be written.  Although software reuse is capable of addressing this issue, effective reuse is seldom to come by, thus the issue still remains unresolved. In order to achieve effective reuse, practitioners need to focus on reusability: the property that makes software reusable. Although Object Oriented Software Development (OOSD) approach is capable of improving software reusability, a way of ascertaining if the required degree of reusability is being achieved during the OOSD process is required. This can be achieved through measurement. The task involved in measuring reusability of Object oriented (OO) software is to; determine major reusability attributes of reusable components, relate these characteristics with factors that influence them, link each factor with measurable OO design features that determines them, relate each feature with appropriate metrics, and find out how these metrics collectively determine the reusability of components. A novel framework for achieving this task is proposed in this paper. Keywords: Software reuse, Software Reusability, Software Metrics, Software Componen

Prediction of Success or Failure of Software Projects based on Reusability Metrics using Support Vector Machine

In the field of computer science & engineering and software industry the term reusability means usage of existing software assets or previously developed code in the software development process. The assets of the software are products and by-products of the product development life cycle which includes code, test cases, software designs and code documentation. The process of modifying the existing assets as per the need and specific requirements is called leveraging. But the reusability process creates a new version of the existing assets. So always reusability is preferred rather than leveraging. To identify the quality of the reusability of the software components various software metrics are available. But the framework or model that can predict the reusability of the software assets are needed to be developed. The reusability metrics must be identified during the design or coding phase and that can be used to reduce the rework needed develop a similar software module. This can much improve the productivity due to the probabilistic increase in the reuse level. In this study various software metrics representing the software reusability nature of the software components are collected in relation with a particular software project to form a database. The database is divided in to training and test set and Support Vector Machine is trained using the Radial Basis Function (RBF) to predict whether the software component can be reused or not

Groupware Technology and Software Reuse

Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) is a research field concerned with the design and implementation of systems to support cooperative work. Such systems are usually called Groupware. Although Software Reusability (SR) is not commonly mentioned as an issue in the CSCW community, there are some obvious overlaps in design issues and methodologies.\ud In this paper I will argue that reusability issues are of particular importance to groupware technology and relate our experiences in this matte

The status of Object-oriented Software Reuse and Reusability Assessment in the Kenyan Software Engineering Industry

There are published claims of widespread ad-hoc reuse within the software Engineering industry—a situation that has caused organizations not to gain optimal benefits from reuse. The general impression created by literature is that, software developers hardly consider the concept measurement as a way of assessing reusability of developed software, thus the resulting software lack adequate reusability. This result to a common conclusion that, the software Engineering industry is still grappling with software development challenges that reuse is intended to solve. The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the status of reuse and reusability assessment, which should form a basis for addressing the problems that hinder effective reuse. This paper reports the findings of an empirical study that surveyed software developers who had knowledge in OO software development. From the analysis of fifty-four (54) valid responses, the study establishes the status of reuse and reusability assessment, as well as the perceptions and awareness of OO developers on the concept of software measurement, with regards to software quality. Based on the findings of the survey, we give recommendations on how organizations can improve the reuse practice. Keywords: Software reuse, Software reusability, Software Metrics, Software Measuremen