Artículo
Empirical analysis of the tool support for software product lines
Autor/es | Horcas Aguilera, José Miguel
Pinto, Mónica Fuentes, Lidia |
Departamento | Universidad de Sevilla. Departamento de Lenguajes y Sistemas Informáticos |
Fecha de publicación | 2022 |
Fecha de depósito | 2024-02-15 |
Resumen | For the last ten years, software product line (SPL) tool developers have been facing the implementation of different variability
requirements and the support of SPL engineering activities demanded by emergent domains. ... For the last ten years, software product line (SPL) tool developers have been facing the implementation of different variability requirements and the support of SPL engineering activities demanded by emergent domains. Despite systematic literature reviews identifying the main characteristics of existing tools and the SPL activities they support, these reviews do not always help to understand if such tools provide what complex variability projects demand. This paper presents an empirical research in which we evaluate the degree of maturity of existing SPL tools focusing on their support of variability modeling characteristics and SPL engineering activities required by current application domains. We first identify the characteristics and activities that are essential for the development of SPLs by analyzing a selected sample of case studies chosen from application domains with high variability. Second, we conduct an exploratory study to analyze whether the existing tools support those characteristics and activities. We conclude that, with the current tool support, it is possible to develop a basic SPL approach. But we have also found out that these tools present several limitations when dealing with complex variability requirements demanded by emergent application domains, such as non-Boolean features or large configuration spaces. Additionally, we identify the necessity for an integrated approach with appropriate tool support to completely cover all the activities and phases of SPL engineering. To mitigate this problem, we propose different road map using the existing tools to partially or entirely support SPL engineering activities, from variability modeling to product derivation. |
Agencias financiadoras | European Commission (EC). Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) Horizonte 2020 (Unión Europea) Joint Funds for the innovation of science and Technology, Fujian Province, China National Natural Science Foundation of China |
Identificador del proyecto | DAEMON 101017109
2019Y9136 82072458 MEDEA RTI2018-099213-B-I00 |
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