Regular PapersNo Access

EXPRESSING PRODUCT DIVERSIFICATION — CATEGORIZING AND CLASSIFYING VARIABILITY IN SOFTWARE PRODUCT FAMILY ENGINEERING

Department of Mathematics and Computing Science, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands

Search for more papers by this author

and

JAN BOSCH

Department of Mathematics and Computing Science, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands

Search for more papers by this author

https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218194004001804Cited by:3 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

In a software product family context, software architects design architectures that support product diversification in both space (multiple contexts) and time (changing contexts). Product diversification is based on the concept of variability: a single architecture and a set of components support a family of products. Software product families have to support increasing amounts of variability, thereby making variability engineering a primary concern in software product family development. The first part of this paper (1) suggests a two-dimensional, orthogonal categorization of variability realization techniques and classifies these variability categories into system maturity levels. The second part (2) discusses a case study of an industrial software product family of mobile communication infrastructure for professional markets such as the military. The study categorizes and classifies the variability in this product family according to criteria common to virtually all software development projects.

Keywords:

References

M. D. McIlroy, Mass produced software components, Proc. NATO Software Engineering Conf. (Garmisch, Germany, 1968) pp. 138–155. Google Scholar
D. L. Parnas, IEEE Trans. on Software Engineering 2(1), 1 (1976). Google Scholar
J. Bosch , Design & Use of Software Architectures: Adopting and Evolving a Product-Line Approach ( Addison-Wesley , 2000 ) . Google Scholar
J. O. Coplien, D. M. Hoffman and D. M. Weiss, IEEE Software 15(6), 37 (1998). Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
B. Keepence and M. Mannion, IEEE Software 16(4), 102 (1999). Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
R. L. Glass, Commun. ACM 39(11), 11 (1996). Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
L. Bronsword and P. Clements, A Case Study in Successful Product Line Development, Software Engineering Institute Technical Report CMU/SEI-96-TR-016, 1996, http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/documents/96.reports/96.tr.016.html . Google Scholar
M. Svahnberg and J. Bosch, J. Software Maintenance — Research and Practice 11(6), 391 (1999). Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
P. C. Clements and L. M. Northrop, Salion, Inc.: A Software Product Line Case Study, Software Engineering Institute Technical Report CMU/SEI-2002-TR-038, 2003, http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/documents/02.reports/02tr038.html . Google Scholar
R. R. Macala, L. D. Stucky and D. C. Gross, IEEE Software 13(3), 57 (1996). Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
M. Svahnberg and J. Bosch, Issues Concerning variability in software product lines, Proc. Third Int. Workshop on Software Architectures for Product Families (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, 2000) pp. 146–157. Google Scholar
L. Bass, P. Clements, S. Cohen, L. Northrop and J. Withey, Procuct Line Practice Workshop Report, Software Engineering Institute Technical Report CMU/SEI-97-TR-003, 1997, http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/documents/97.reports/97tr003/ 97tr003abstract.html . Google Scholar
D. Dikelet al., IEEE Computer 30(8), 49 (1997). Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
J. G. Wijnstra, Supporting diversity with component frameworks as architectural elements, Proc. 22nd Int. Conf. on Software Engineering (Limerick, Ireland, 2000) pp. 51–60. Google Scholar
R. van Ommering, Building product populations with software components, Proc. 24th Int.Conf. on Software Engineering (Orlando, Florida, USA, 2002) pp. 255–265. Google Scholar
P. Toft, D. Coleman and J. Ohta, A cooperative model for cross-divisional product development for a software product line, Proc. First Software Product Line Conf. (Denver, Colorado, USA, 2000) pp. 111–132. Google Scholar
F. Bachmann and L. Bass, Proc. Symp. on Software Reusability: Putting Software Reuse in Context (Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2001) pp. 126–132. Crossref, Google Scholar
J. van Gurp and J. Bosch, J. Systems & Software 61(2), 105 (2002). Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
D. Batory and S. O'Malley, ACM Trans. on Software Engineering and Methodology 1(4), 355 (1992). Crossref, Google Scholar
R. L. Krikhaaret al., Architecture comprehension tools for a PBX system, Proc. Third European Conf. on Software Maintenance and Reengineering (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1999) pp. 31–41. Google Scholar
M. Jaring and J. Bosch, Representing variability in software product lines: A case study, Proc. Second Software Product Line Conf. (San Diego, California, USA, 2002) pp. 15–36. Google Scholar
D. Garlan, R. Allen and J. Ockerbloom, IEEE Software 12(6), 17 (1995). Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
J. van Gurp, J. Bosch and M. Svahnberg, On the notion of variability in software product lines, Proc. Working IEEE/IFIP Conf. on Software Architecture (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2001) pp. 45–54. Google Scholar
M. Jazayeri , A. Ran and F. van der Linden , Software Architecture for Product Families: Principles and Practice ( Addison-Wesley , 2000 ) . Google Scholar
P. Oreizyet al., IEEE Intelligent Systems 14(3), 54 (1999). Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
I. Jacobson I , M. Griss and P. Jonsson , Software Reuse — Architecture, Process and Organization for Business Success ( Addison-Wesley , 1997 ) . Google Scholar
E. Gamma et al. , Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software ( Addison-Wesley , 1995 ) . Google Scholar
D. M. Weiss and C. T. R. Lai , Software Product-Line Engineering: A Family-Based Software Development Process ( Addison-Wesley , 1999 ) . Google Scholar
M. Jaring, R. L. Krikhaar and J. Bosch, Software: Practice and Experience 34(1), 69 (2004). Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
M. Svahnberg, J. van Gurp and J. Bosch, A Taxonomy of Variability Realization Techniques, Blekinge Institute of Technology Research Report 1103-1581, 2002 . Google Scholar
Software Engineering Institute, How Do You Define Software Architecture?, 2004, http://www.sei.cmu.edu/architecture/definitions.html . Google Scholar
M. W. Maier, D. Emery and R. Hilliard, IEEE Computer 34(4), 107 (2001). Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
J. Bosch, Maturity in evolution in software product lines: Approaches, artefacts and organization, Proc. Second Software Product Line Conf. (San Diego, California, USA, 2002) pp. 257–270. Google Scholar
Rohill Technologies B.V., 2004, http://www.rohill.com/ . Google Scholar