A REUSE ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT DATABASE - THE HELIOS OBJECT INFORMATION-SYSTEM

This paper describes the Development Database of a Software Engineerin g Environment (SEE), that couples reuse and object-oriented technologi es. We propose a classification model for the repository of reusable c omponents that is a support for an efficient retrieval mechanism, and a reusable component model that considers components of large and low- granularity levels (e.g., application frameworks and methods of a give n class). The reusable component model is based on the underlying idea that development components are not operational components since they do not have the same purpose. This model first represents each compon ent as an aggregation of other sub-components, together with all infor mation needed for its retrieval (e.g., classification and facets), its understanding (e.g., informal functional description) and its depende ncies with other development components, in particular the application s in which it occurs, since applications are considered also as abstra ct development components. This approach was tested thanks to an exist ing application which was loaded into the SEE. From that moment, it wa s possible to regenerate a new application in a reasonably short time. Moreover, the existence of a retrieval tool permits to validate the d evelopment components classification, but also put forward the importa nce of the quantification step. In particular, the versioning should b e carefully processed. Furthermore the fact that all the development o bjects are built on an homogeneous model allows easier tools managemen t and interapplication reusability.