Software Product Lines: Reuse That Makes Business Sense

  • Authors:
  • Linda M. Northrop

  • Affiliations:
  • Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

  • Venue:
  • ASWEC '06 Proceedings of the Australian Software Engineering Conference
  • Year:
  • 2006

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Abstract

Traditionally, software-intensive systems have been acquired, developed, tested, and maintained as separate products, even if these systems have a significant amount of common functionality and code. Such an approach wastes technical resources, takes longer, and costs more than necessary. A product line approach to software can reduce development cycles, improve return on software investments, improve software system integration, and give an organization more future options. Building a new product or system becomes more a matter of assembly or generation than creation, of integration rather than programming. Organizations of all types and sizes are discovering that a product line strategy, when skillfully implemented, can improve productivity, quality, and time to market. Software product lines present at long last a reuse strategy with real economic benefit.