Panel The Reusably Incorrect Forum Wayne C. Lim, Panel Chair Lombard Hill Group
[email protected] Panelists John Favaro, Intecs Sistemi Chuck Lillie, ASSET Jay Reddy, Prologic, Inc. Louis Sivo, Hewlett-Packard Purpose and Scope
creating products from this plethora of reusable assets would remain. Consequently, it is critical that the consumers drive the fundamental software development processes and technologies. Jay Reddy covers the enterprise level and identifies three tasks in which an organization needs to perform well in order for reuse to be effective: 1) using a systematic approach to reusing all life cycle assets; 2) tightly integrating reuse activities into the development life cycle; and 3) focussing on specific domains. For reuse to succeed, Louis Sivo expresses the need for producers and consumers to locate each another before a transaction can occur. Libraries that contain not only components, but subsystems as well would be of value to consumers. Since panel members’ papers comprehensively detail the elements necessary for reuse to succeed at the enterprise level, I cover only the National and International Levels here.
With a format patterned after Bill Maher’s “Politically Incorrect Forum” and Public Broadcasting Systems’ “Firing Line,” the ICSR Reusably Incorrect Forum brings together reuse researchers and practitioners to discuss current issues and challenge long-held notions in reuse. The purpose of this forum is present, inform and debate topical reuse areas in an entertaining format. Unlike past ICSR panels which focus on a specific (vertical) topic, this panel focuses on the panelists, their perspectives, and covers a broad (horizontal) cross section of topics.
Reuse at the Enterprise, National, and International Levels’ In step with the conference theme of ‘putting the pieces together,’ each panel member describes the ‘pieces’ necessary for reuse to succeed at the enterprise, national Enterprise-wide reuse and international levels. characterizes reuse throughout an enterprise. This may require support and coordination of multiple levels of management in multiple organizations. National reuse is the reuse of assets on a national basis. Issues raised at this scope include copyright, p r i c i n g a n d enterpriseproprietary issues. International reuse describes the reuse of assets across countries. Prominent issues raised at this level includes issues of language, and international copyright laws. What is required for reuse to succeed at the enterprise, national, and international levels? John Favaro argues that availability and access to component repositories are necessary, but not sufficient to address the reusability problem at all three levels. The problem in
National
For reuse to thrive at the national level, we will need an appropriate national infrastructure to support reuse. Areas to be addressed include: 1) Standards - Standards enable a common language among libraries, assets and taxonomy for communication. Efforts by groups such as the Reuse Interoperability Group (RIG), IEEE and the Object Management Group serve that end. 2) Producer/Broker/Consumer Network - This network is the creation of a Producer, Broker, Consumer chain for the creation and utilization of value provided by reuse. As companies bring their expertise, tools and assets from their in-house experiences to market, we will need to encourage the roles of producer, broker and consumers at a national level. Distribution channels will increasingly utilize the internet for purchase and retrieval. 3) Education - Education on reuse should start earlier at the university level when students are taught the
’ Lim, Wayne C., MANAGING SOFTWARE REUSE, chapter 27. Portions reprinted by permission of Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
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At the international level, in addition to the points in the previous section, areas that should be addressed include the following: 1) Standards - Standards which are accepted at the international level would facilitate an international market in reuse. If each country has its own set of standards, we will encounter a situation similar to the dilemma every international traveler has faced: varying electrical outlet interfaces and power levels. The degree of international standards would affect the next category. 2) Localization - Assets need to be tailored to the needs of the particular country or community. Such localization is a combination of reuse specific standards as well as community standards (e.g., unit of measure, currency, and language). 3) Legal - International intellectual property laws and regulations need to encourage the reuse of software. For example, issues in the area of international copyright and patent laws, policies and methods of recourse need to support reuse. 4) Government cooperation - There must be greater cooperation on the part of various governments to encourage software reuse. Significant reuse efforts in Europe, Japan, and North America, for example, have much to learn from each other that would aid the effort in creating an international reuse market.
principles of reuse. Reuse should not necessarily be a separate course, but rather incorporated into existing curriculum. 4) Economic Incentives - While reuse is simple in concept, its “buy-in” requires educational/cultural change. Consequently, commercial organizations that are pioneers in the field of reuse face hurdles in educating the potential consumers as well as the risks that accompany a new venture. This risk can be shared through consortiumtype efforts, some of which are underway. Reduction of such risk can help assure a reasonable economic return for companies that enter the reuse market. 5) Legal - Legal matters pertain to the intellectual property issues in the production and consumption of reusable assets. Issues that must be addressed include enduser protection from damages arising from use of software created from defective assets. The deficiencies of the current legal framework to address software reuse concerns stem more from the insufficiency to address software issues in general. For example, what subject matter is copyrightable and what is patentable is still unclear. 6) Government stimulus - In the area of industrial policy, the role of the government in stimulating a reuse industry has been debated. Efforts of the Japanese government through its agencies (e.g., Ministry of International Trade and Industry) in supporting technologies have been well publicized. However, the government can at the very least stimulate the production of reusable software as a customer. Several examples may be cited where government demand has accelerated a technology field. Cox [l] notes how the government through its decision to purchase interchangeable-parts small arms accelerated the manufacturing process and industry of such arms. Redwine, et al. [2] comment how the maturation of software cost modeling accelerated in the mid-1970’s because the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force acquired an early version of the model and began using it in its procurements. There are at least three levels where the government can encourage software reuse. At the first level, it can stimulate the reuse industry as a customer e.g., as in the operations research and software cost modeling examples. At the second level, it can encourage commercialization of government reuse know-how to the private sector. At the third level, it can fund reuse research that has promise of having a positive impact on the U.S.
References [l]
B. J. Cox, “There is a silver bullet (reusable software components),” Bye, vol. 15, no. 10, pp. 209-218, 1990. [2] S. T. Redwine, L. G. Becker, A. B. Marmor-Squires, R. J. Martin, S. H. Nash, and W. E. Riddle, “ DOD related software technology requirements, practices, and prospects for the future,” Institute for Defense Analysis, Alexandria, VA, tech. rep. IDA paper P-1788, June 1984. Biography:
Wayne C. Lim specializes and consults in the strategic planning, economic, organizational, and metric issues of software reuse. He helped start corporate reuse programs at Hewlett-Packard and Ford Aerospace. Mr. Lim completed his MBA degree at Harvard University, graduate engineering coursework at Stanford University, and an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Pomona College. He is the author of a Prentice-Hall book, Managing Software Reuse, and may be reached at www.lombardhill.com or
[email protected].
economy. International
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