Assessing Object-Oriented Application Framework Maturity : A Replicated Case Study

• Object-oriented application frameworks present one of the most successful approaches to developing reusable assets in industry, but developing frameworks is both difficult and expensive. Framework generally evolve to maturity through a number of iterations due to the incorporation of new requirements and better domain understanding. Since changes to frameworks have a large impact due to the effects on the applications build based on the asset, it is important to assess the maturity of a framework. Bansiya [3, 4] presents an approach to assessing framework maturity based on a set of design metrics and formulates four statements. In this paper, we present the results of a replicated case study of the framework maturity assessment approach. Our study subject consists of four successive versions of a proprietary black-box application framework. Our findings partly support the statements formulated in the original study, but differ in some places. The differences are discussed and explanations and argumentation provided.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Programvaruteknik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Software Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Object-oriented frameworks

framework maturity

software reuse

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

rap (subject category)