Practical Software Reuse

Right context, software reuse promises high value to businesses that develop software, opening the door to radical improvements in their software capability (productivity, cost, time to market). Attempts to adopt reuse without a sound understanding of the range of issues involved, however, can lead to expensive failure. This book is for those who are wondering whether they should adopt reuse and how, and also to those who have already started to adopt it but are wondering where they may be going wrong and how they could do better. It consistently emphasizes the practical issues that influence success or failure in reuse; and it offers a concise and balanced coverage of the essentials of the subject, rather than going into undue depth or detail on some topics at the expense of others. It occupies the central ground between being on the one hand an academic textbook and on the other hand a cookbook with ready-made recipes for exactly "how to do it". The authors have drawn on their extensive experience of reuse and of software process improvement to provide a readable and balanced coverage of the subject. This book is suitable for business executives, software managers and software developers, regardless of whatever kind of software or applications are developed by their organisations, and whatever the size of those organisations. A special feature of the book is the frequent use of experience notes, drawn from the real-life experience of organisations that have embarked on the reuse adventure.

From the reviews:

"This book explains how reuse is a systematic software development practice which goes beyond code to include all stages, from requirements capture right through to maintenance. ... In a very readable 218 pages and 10 chapters the authors present a well structured and well presented view of the essentials. The balanced and broad coverage leaves a clear picture of the issues. ... It is suitable for developers or managers in any size of organization, and good value for money." (Hilary Green, Computer Bulletin, November, 2002)