A comparison of software reuse in software development communities

Abstract

Software reuse has been regarded as one of the most important areas for improving software development productivity and the quality of software. Research and practice has shown that software reuse can be used for developing products from reusable assets in a routine manner, on an industrial scale. However successful application of software reuse is limited to certain domains and not widespread across the software industry. There is no clear consensus between input and, output artifacts and the requirements that an effective reuse process must have. To examine the issues and concerns in more detail we have completed surveys on software reuse in the conventional software engineering (CSE) community and in the software product line (SPL) community to compare and contrast the results for similarities and differences in software reuse philosophy. This paper outlines some of the identified differences and similarities of issues and concerns in software reuse in both communities and what one community can gain from the other to overcome the identified software reuse problems. The comparison highlights areas where the existing SPL and CSE communities provide extensive support in software reuse and those in which the SPL and CSE communities are deficient, suggesting an understanding of the factors resisting software reuse in both communities.