ARCHITECTURAL MISMATCH - WHY REUSE IS SO HARD

Architectural mismatch stems from mismatched assumptions a reusable pa rt makes about the system structure it is to be part of. These assumpt ions often conflict with the assumptions of other parts and are almost always implicit, making them extremely difficult to analyze before bu ilding the system. To illustrate how the perspective of architectural mismatch can clarify our understanding of component integration proble ms, we describe our experience of building a family of software design environments from existing parts. On the basis of our experience, we show how an analysis of architectural mismatch exposes some fundamenta l, thorny problems for software composition and suggests some possible research avenues needed to solve them.