SOUCE CODE TAILORING

REUSE OF EXISTING, PROVEN SOFTWARE CAN POTENTIALLY REDUCE PROBLEM DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT COSTS BY A LARGE FACTOR. TWOIMPORTANT SOFTWARE ENGINEERING TECHNIQUES CAN FACILITATE THE REUSE OF SOFTWARE: (1) SOFTWARE LIBRARY MAINTENANCE, AND (2) SOURCE-CODE TAILORING. IN THE FIRST METHOD, THE SPECIFICATION OF A SOFTWARE MODULE SERVES TO DETERMINE WHETHER IT WILL BE USEFUL FOR A GIVEN APPLICATIONS. IN THE SECOND, A GENERALIZED "ARCHTYPE" PROGRAM IS ADAPTED TO DIFFERENT APPLICATIONS. THE REUSABLE SOFTWARE LIBRARIES ANDARCHTYPES MIGHT BE COLLECTED AUTOMATICALLY FROM EXISTING SOFTWARE, GATHERED BY PROGRAMMERS, OR WRITTEN FROM SCRATCH. DURING THE COURSE OF THIS PHASE I PROJECT, AKM RESEARCHERS WILL STUDY A SET OF EXISTING CODES DEVELOPED FOR THE FEDERALAVIATION ADMINISTRATION (FAA) WITH REGARD TO REUSABILITY, DETERMINING THE EXTENT TO WHICH USEFUL LIBRARIES AND EXTENSIBLE ARCHTYPES CAN BE EXTRACTED. THE MAJOR CONSIDERATIONS WILL INCLUDE POTENTIAL AUTOMATIC ANALYSIS, SUCH AS FORMAL VERIFICATION OR THOSE USING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNIQUES; THE METANOTATION USED TO EXPRESS ARCHTYPES OR SPECIFY THE FUNCTION OF SOFTWARE LIBRARIES; ANDTHE GENERAL UTILITY OF THE REUSABLE SOFTWARE PRODUCED.