Negotiating Early Reuse of Components - A Model-Based Analysis

Abstract

Unless existing components are considered during formulation of a system specification, the amount of component reuse that is possible may be limited. In order to increase the amount of reuse, it may be necessary to alter the functionality or performance of the system from that originally envisioned. Tension between stakeholders thus exists. Reuse of components also significantly changes the specification activity because it must now deal with component specifications as input models, which is not necessarily the case when reuse is not the goal. These issues are investigated using a modeling framework based on semiotic theory. The nature of modeling abstractions that could support the negotiation between stakeholders is also explored. Two scenarios are examined: one based on the idea of functional abstractions that can be composed and the other one using structural abstractions of the kind available in the UML as the basis of component composition. Even though at this stage, there are no good examples of functional abstractions that can be composed, it is concluded that functional abstractions are the best prospect for supporting collaboration and negotiation.