Date of Award

12-1992

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Advisor

James Cardow, Capt., USAF

Abstract

This effort examined ways to improve the effectiveness of reusable software libraries. The main area of investigation was in improving the user interface by finding better ways to present the software components to potential re-users. The first aspect which was considered was finding an effective representation for reusable software components. A set of criteria was developed for evaluating the effectiveness of software representations. The criteria consisted of generality, expressiveness, understandability, consistency, and resolution. The second aspect which was considered was how to present the software component information to the user to facilitate finding the appropriate component for reuse. A representation framework was examined which advocated presenting reuse information in four layers: component functionality, design information, quality metrics, and source code. Several current representations for software function and design were evaluated using the criteria listed above. The highest rated representations were then incorporated into a prototype library interface for examination by a group of software engineers. Feedback was collected and summarized in a set of recommendations and conclusions.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GCE-ENG-92D-11

DTIC Accession Number

ADA258920

Comments

The author's Vita page is omitted.

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