IEEE Standard 1517--Standard for Information Technology--Software Life Cycle Processes--Reuse Processes (IEEE Std. 1517) is described in this book. This standard focuses on systematic reuse; that is, practicing software reuse by following a repeatable, well-defined process. The book is part of the new IEEE Software Engineering Standards series, a set of books intended as companions to IEEE’s various software engineering standards documents. Each book in the series is intended to serve as a generally accessible guide to a particular IEEE software engineering standard, discussing how that particular standard should be interpreted and applied within software projects.

The goal of IEEE Std. 1517 is to establish a framework for systematically introducing software reuse activities and tasks throughout the software life cycle. As such, IEEE Std. 1517 is actually a supplement to a broader standard laying out requirements for all software life cycle processes and activities: IEEE/EIA 12207--Standard for Information Technology--Software Life Cycle Processes (which is the US version of ISO/IEC Std. 12207).

The intended audience for this work is both managerial and technical personnel involved in software development activities. The writing style is aimed at anyone with a general software engineering background. The book aims to serve as both a tutorial-level introduction to IEEE Std. 1517 for those new to the subject, and as a reference text for those interested in clarification or interpretation of specific requirements within the standard. In addition to providing exposition on the meaning of the standard itself, the book also aims to guide the reader in implementing and applying the standard on software projects. To this end, the book is divided into three parts.

Part 1, “Overview,” presents a useful overview of the topic area, of the parent IEEE Std. 12207, and of IEEE Std. 1517 itself. IEEE Std. 12207 does not dictate a specific life cycle model or development method for an organization to follow. Instead, it serves as more of a “requirements document” for compliant life cycle approaches, detailing the processes that must be carried out but leaving the implementation of those processes up to the organization. IEEE Std. 1517 is also covered, showing how it dovetails with IEEE Std. 12207.

Part 2, “Interpretation and Implementation,” is the heart of the book. It presents a detailed discussion of IEEE Std. 1517. The standard is a requirements document for reuse-oriented processes, activities, and tasks that form the bedrock of systematic software reuse. Its structure mirrors that of IEEE Std. 12207, describing additional requirements for incorporating reuse at every step in the life cycle. IEEE Std. 1517 encompasses both consumer reuse and producer reuse perspectives in life cycle activities within its framework. The consumer perspective focuses on (re)using existing artifacts in composing new systems, while the producer perspective focuses on developing new artifacts intended for reuse by others.

Part 3, “Application,” provides some brief advice on applying the standard. This portion of the book also discusses the relationship of IEEE Std. 1517 to the Software Engineering Institute’s Capability Maturity Model (CMM), and to the Unified Modeling Language (UML).

Overall, this book provides a handy, readable guide to interpreting IEEE Std. 1517, written by the standard’s principal author. For anyone wishing to adopt this voluntary standard, it is definitely required reading. Its biggest shortcoming, however, is that while it provides much discussion on the meaning of the standard, it does not achieve its aims with respect to implementation and application, providing little practical or concrete advice on actually incorporating conforming practices into an organization’s development approach.

The standard itself does not discuss any particular development method or life cycle approach, since it is intended to be a set of requirements that is applicable to any such approach. Unfortunately, the book takes the same perspective when discussing implementation suggestions, presenting advice in the abstract. This leads to very general suggestions that provide little added value. It would have been more useful to pick a couple of different life cycle strategies that are commonly used by larger development organizations, present them in the overview portion of the book, and then discuss concrete implementation suggestions with respect to these reference points throughout Part 2.

In terms of presentation, the book is clearly organized and easy to read. The table of contents is especially helpful in navigating the book, and is the most useful tool when using the book as a reference for interpreting the standard. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to directly map sections or requirement numbers within IEEE Std. 1517 into the corresponding sections or page numbers of the text. Exacerbating this problem is the book’s index, which includes a fairly small number of terms, many of them generic, with a very long list of page numbers (for example, “engineering,” “domain,” “standards”). Nevertheless, the book is a valuable asset for those wishing to understand IEEE Std. 1517.