Software reuse is one of the most promising solutions to the challenges of increasing software productivity and improving quality. Although the term “software reuse” initially referred to reuse of program code, its definition has broadened to encompass all information needed by the software developer. This broader definition has made apparent the need for and importance of creating the infrastructure to initiate, support, and manage a reuse program. This book is aimed at practitioners and managers either contemplating starting a software reuse program or wanting to improve an existing one. It is not a technical manual for creating reusable software. Rather, it provides information about implementing a software reuse program within an organization.
The book is organized into nine major sections, which cover the following topics:
motivation for a reuse program, definitions and terminology, evolution of the concept of software reuse, major industry trends, and presentation of a reuse adoption model
issues in beginning a reuse program: understanding the role, goals, and responsibilities of the organization, identifying reuse potential and aptitude within an organization, and selecting pilot projects
determining whether reuse is appropriate: costs and benefits of reuse, return on investment, and economic models
planning for reuse: selecting a strategy, assessing current practices and future potential reuse, creating a vision and mission statement, determining staffing and training levels, designing the appropriate reuse organizational structure, handling funding and accounting for the reuse program, selecting reuse metrics to gauge progress, marketing the reuse program within the organization, managing legal and contractual issues, and understanding manufacturing methods and concepts as they apply to software development and reuse
overview of reuse processes and tools used in implementing a reuse program: methods for producing, brokering, and consuming reusable assets and mechanisms for facilitating the reuse of assets
reuse implementation strategies: change management and technology transfer
monitoring and improving a reuse program
comparison of the current state of reuse adoption with adoption of other technologies: immediate future trends and what will be needed to move reuse beyond the current personal and intraproject levels to interproject, organizational, national, and international levels
outline of an infrastructure and implementation plan for reuse
The book is laid out in 27 chapters and an appendix. Unfortunately, the chapters are not grouped into sections. Grouping them into sections with a short description of each section would have conveyed a clearer picture of the book’s organization. Nine of the chapters include research surveys, which appear in an appendix at the end of each chapter. These surveys cover adoption models, economic models, maturity models, assessments, reuse processes, organizational structures, metrics, domain analyses, guidelines, and certification. Each chapter contains a list of references.
One of the book’s strengths is its presentation of the topics. Since there is no “one size fits all” reuse program, alternative implementation methods are given for each topic, along with the advantages and disadvantages associated with each and guidelines to selecting alternatives.
For academics and technically oriented computer professionals, the book offers an increased awareness of the myriad nontechnical dimensions of a reuse program, and presentation of the research in these areas. Practitioners and managers will find plenty of information to guide them in establishing or improving a reuse program.
