Using analogy and formal methods for software reuse
J.-J. Jeng, Betty H. C. Cheng · 2002
Using formal specifications to represent software components facilitates the determination of reusability because they more precisely characterize the functionality of the software, and the well-defined syntax makes processing amenable to automation. The authors present an approach, based on formal methods, to the modification of reusable software components. From a two-tiered hierarchy of reusable software components, the candidate components that are analogous to the query specification are retrieved from the hierarchy. A retrieved component is compared to the query specification to determine what changes needed to be applied to the corresponding program component in order to make it satisfy the query specification.