Aspect-Oriented, Model-Driven Software Product Lines: The AMPLE Way

471 Pages·2011·4.35 MB·English

by  Awais Rashid

ASPECT-ORIENTED, MODEL-DRIVEN
SOFTWARE PRODUCT LINES
Software product lines provide a systematic means of managing variability in a
suiteofproducts.Theyhavemanybenefits,buttherearethreemajorbarriersthat
canpreventthemfromreachingtheirfullpotential.First,thereisthechallengeof
scale:alargenumberofvariantsmayexistinaproductlinecontextandthenumber
of interrelationships and dependencies can rise exponentially. Second, variations
tend to be systemic by nature in that they affect the whole architecture of the
softwareproductline.Third,softwareproductlinesoftenservedifferentbusiness
contexts,eachwithitsownintricaciesandcomplexities.
The AMPLE approach (see www.ample-project.net) tackles these three chal-
lengesbycombiningadvancesinaspect-orientedsoftwaredevelopmentandmodel-
drivenengineering.Thefullsuiteofmethodsandtoolsthatconstitutethisapproach
arediscussedindetailinthiseditedvolumeandillustratedusingthreereal-world
industrialcasestudies.
awais rashid is a Professor of Software Engineering at Lancaster University,
UK.
jean-claude royer isaProfessorofComputerScienceattheE´coledesMines
deNantes,France.
andreas rummler holdsthepositionofSeniorResearcheratSAPResearchin
Dresden,Germany.

ASPECT-ORIENTED, MODEL-DRIVEN
SOFTWARE PRODUCT LINES
The AMPLE Way
Editedby
AWAIS RASHID
LancasterUniversity
JEAN-CLAUDE ROYER
E´coledesMinesdeNantes
ANDREAS RUMMLER
SAPResearch,Dresden
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Contents
PartI Softwareproductlineengineeringchallenges Page1
1 Introduction 3
awais rashid, jean-claude royer and andreas rummler
2 Casestudiesforsoftwareproductlineengineering 27
andreas rummler, ludger fiege, catarina gomes and
rita ribeiro
PartII Variabilityanalysisandmodelling 53
3 Fromrequirementstofeaturemodels 55
nathan weston and phil greenwood
4 Variabilitymanagement 82
steffen zschaler, pablo sa´nchez, joa˜o santos, mauricio
alfe´rez, ana moreira, joa˜o arau´jo, uira´ kulesza and
lidia fuentes
5 Hybridassessmentmethodforsoftwareproductlines 125
afonso pimentel, rita ribeiro, ana moreira, joa˜o arau´jo,
joa˜o santos, anto´nio costa, mauricio alfe´rez and
uira´ kulesza
PartIII Variabilityimplementationandtraceability 159
6 ProductlineimplementationwithECaesarJ 161
vaidas gasiunas, angel nu´n˜ez, jacques noye´ and mira mezini
7 Model-drivenengineeringsupportforproductlineengineering 197
christoph elsner, iris groher, ludger fiege and
markus vo¨lter
8 ManaginginformationflowintheSPLdevelopmentprocesses 222
nicolas anquetil, uira´ kulesza, ricardo mateus, ralf
mitschke, ana moreira, jean-claude royer and
andreas rummler
v
vi Contents
9 UsingdesignrationaletoimproveSPLtraceability 263
ismeˆnia galva˜o, mehmet aksit, pim van den broek and
michiel hendriks
PartIV Product-drivenvs.solution-drivensoftware
productlineengineering 285
10 Product-drivensoftwareproductlineengineering 287
steffen zschaler, pablo sa´nchez, carlos nebrera, lidia
fuentes, vaidas gasiunas and ludger fiege
11 Solution-drivensoftwareproductlineengineering 316
iris groher, ludger fiege, christoph elsner, christa
schwanninger and markus vo¨lter
PartV Futuretrends 345
12 Dynamicvariabilityinadaptivesystems 347
ruzanna chitchyan, brice morin, franck fleurey, nelly
bencomo, arnor solberg and thomas genssler
13 Imperfectinformationinsoftwareproductlineengineering 378
joost noppen and pim van den broek
14 Empiricalresearchinsoftwareproductlineengineering 411
phil greenwood, vander alves, john hutchinson, christa
schwanninger and nicolas anquetil
Epilogue 444
andreas rummler, awais rashid and jean-claude royer
References 447
Index 463
Part I
Software product line engineering challenges

1
Introduction
awais rashid, jean-claude royer and andreas rummler
He sat, in defiance of municipal orders, astride the gun Zam-Zammah
onherbrickplatformoppositetheoldAjaib-Gher–theWonderHouse,
as the natives call the Lahore Museum. Who hold Zam-Zammah, that
‘fire-breathingdragon’,holdthePunjab.
(RudyardKipling,Kim)
As the size and complexity of software systems grows, so does the need for
effectivemodularity,abstractionandcompositionmechanismstoimprovethereuse
of software development assets during software systems engineering. This need
for reusability is dictated by pressures to minimise costs and shorten the time
to market. However, such reusability is only possible if these assets are variable
enough to be usable in different products. Variability support has thus become an
importantattributeofmodernsoftwaredevelopmentpractices.Thisisreflectedby
the increasing interest in mechanisms such as software product lines (Clements
& Northrop, 2001) and generative programming (Czarnecki & Eisenecker 2000).
Suchmechanismsallowtheautomationofsoftwaredevelopmentasopposedtothe
creation of custom ‘one of a kind’ software from scratch. By utilising variability
techniques, highly reusable code libraries and components can be created, thus
cuttingcostsandreducingthetimetomarket.
Asoftwareproductlineisasetofsoftware-intensivesystemssharingacommon,
managedsetoffeaturesthatsatisfythespecificneedsofaparticularmarketsegment
ormissionandthataredevelopedfromacommonsetofcoreassetsinaprescribed
way. Core assets are produced and reused in a number of products that form a
family. These core assets may be documents, models, etc., comprising product
portfolios,requirements,projectplans,architecture,designmodelsand,ofcourse,
softwarecomponents.
Thus, software product lines provide a systematic means to manage variability
in a suite of products. Their potential benefits involve identification of variants
3