DARE: A DOMAIN ANALYSIS AND REUSE ENVIRONMENT

DOMAIN ANALYSIS (DA) HOLDS THE KEY FOR A SYSTEMATIC, FORMAL, AND EFFECTIVE PRACTICE OF SOFTWARE REUSE. PROPOSED APPROACHES AND METHODS FOR DA ASSUME THAT DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE EXISTS AND IS READILY USABLE. EXPERIENCE INDICATES, HOWEVER, THAT ACQUIRING AND STRUCTURING KNOWLEDGE IS THE BOTTLENECK OF DA. A RECENT METHODOLOGY DEVELOPED BY REUSE, INC. FOR THE STARS PROGRAM (REUSE LIBRARY PROCESS MODEL, RLPM) EMPHASIZES THE EARLY ANALYSIS ASPECTS OF KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION AND KNOWLEDGE STRUCTURING. THE RLPM CONVERTS THE AD-HOC NATURE OF DA INTO A REPEATABLE PROCEDURE WITH WELL DEFINED, TANGIBLE OUTPUTS. THIS IS A PROPOSAL TO ASSESS THE POTENTIAL FOR AUTOMATION OF DA. EXISTING TECHNIQUES AND TOOLS, IN PARTICULAR THOSE FROM INFORMATION RETRIEVAL AND EXPERT SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT, PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR ACTIVITIES IN THE DA PROCESS. MANY OF THE TOOLS CAN BE USED IMMEDIATELY WHILE CERTAIN DA ACTIVITIES MAY REQUIRE THE CREATION OF NEW TOOLS. THERE IS, THEREFORE, A DEFINITE POTENTIAL FOR AUTOMATING PARTS OF DA PROVIDED A BASIC FRAMEWORK TO CONDUCT DA EXISTS. THE RLPM WILL BE USED AS THE FRAMEWORK FOR AUTOMATING PRIMITIVE OPERATIONS. OTHER METHODS WILL BE CONSIDERED AND EVALUATED. THE OBJECTIVE IN PHASE I WILL BE TO PROPOSE A DOMAIN ANALYSIS AND REUSE ENVIRONMENT (DARE) ARCHITECTURE THAT SUPPORTS A DA METHODOLOGY. CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THE DOMAIN ANALYSIS PROCESS AND A FRAMEWORK FOR STANDARDIZING SOME OF ITS ACTIVITIES. COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS INCLUDE TAILORING OF THE DARE METHOD AND ENVIRONMENT TO SUPPORT SPECIFIC DOMAINS, DEVELOPMENT OF PLUG-COMPATIBLE TOOLS TO SUPPORT SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF DARE, AND DEVELOPMENT OF DOMAIN SPECIFIC REUSABLE COMPONENTS AND ARCHITECTURES DARE CAN USE FOR APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT.