Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 2
Software Product Line
Engineering Basics
Software product line engineering is a recent trend in
software development. It can bring benefits in terms of costs
and productivity; however, it also involves a complex software
development process. This chapter introduces the basics for
product line engineering and addresses the main technical
aspects.Themanagementofproductlineengineeringprocesses
is an important issue; however, it is not dealt within this topic.
Interested readers can refer to [NOR 02, POH 05a, CAC 06].
2.1. Introduction to product line engineering
Software systems are complex and their development is
time-consuming and error-prone. Many software companies
are building applications that share more commonalities than
differences. They often repeatedly add new features and
build new variants or releases of their applications. Most
often, software development consists of creating variations
from existing software. The strategy of re-using software
artifacts has been seen as a means to alleviate the problems
associated with software development. Re-using software
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