Copyright © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Received 14 February 2006;
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Abstract
Product line engineering (PLE) is a new effective approach to software reuse, where applications are generated by instantiating a core asset which is a large-grained reuse unit. Hence, a core asset is a key element of PLE, and therefore the reusability of the core asset largely determines the success of PLE projects. However, current quality models to evaluate reusability do not adequately address the unique characteristics of core assets in PLE. This paper proposes a comprehensive framework for evaluating the reusability of core assets. We first identify the key characteristics of core assets, and derive a set of quality attributes that characterizes the reusability of core assets. Then, we define metrics for each quality attribute and finally present practical guidelines for applying the evaluation framework in PLE projects. Using the proposed framework, the reusability of core assets can be more effectively and precisely evaluated.
Keywords: Reusability; Product line engineering; Quality model; Metric; Core asset
Article Outline
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Related works
- 3. Meta-model of a core asset
- 4. Characteristics of core assets
- 5. Quality attributes characterizing the reusability
- 5.1. Core attributes
- 5.2. Auxiliary attributes
- 6. Metrics for reusability of core assets
- 6.1. Core metrics
- 6.1.1. Functional commonality
- 6.1.2. Non-functional commonality
- 6.1.3. Variability richness
- 6.1.4. Applicability
- 6.1.5. Tailorability
- 6.2. Auxiliary metrics
- 6.2.1. Component replaceability
- 6.2.2. Understandability
- 7. Instructions for applying the metrics with a case study
- 7.1. Computing functional coverage (FC)
- 7.2. Computing non-functional commonality (NFC)
- 7.3. Computing coverage of variability (CV)
- 7.4. Computing cumulative applicability (CA)
- 7.5. Computing tailorability (TL)
- 7.6. Computing component compliance (CC)
- 7.7. Computing overall understandability (OU)
- 7.8. Computing the final value of reusability
- 8. Theoretical analysis and framework assessment
- 8.1. Theoretical analysis
- 8.1.1. Attribute validity
- 8.1.2. Unit validity
- 8.1.3. Instrumental validity
- 8.1.4. Protocol validity
- 8.2. Assessment
- 9. Concluding remarks
- References







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