A rough-fuzzy approach for retrieval of candidate components for software reuse

Abstract

Software reuse means reusing the inputs, the processes, and the outputs of previous software development efforts. Software reuse is a means toward an end: improving software development productivity and software product quality. Effective management of a large set of reusable components requires well-defined structures and processes. Without these, the reuse repository effectively becomes a write-only storage medium. The repository of reusable components is the link between development for reuse, where the components are produced, and development with reuse, where the components are reused. In this paper, we present a novel approach for selecting candidate components used in various previous projects for reuse in the current application. The methodology is based on rough-fuzzy sets, and a decision support tool based on this methodology is implemented. This method reduces the search domain and hence does a more efficient retrieval than the existing methods.