Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!gatech!hubcap!billwolf%hazel.cs.clemson.edu
From: billwolf%hazel.cs.clemson.edu@hubcap.clemson.edu (William Thomas Wolfe, 2847 )
Newsgroups: comp.sw.components
Subject: Re: Reasons for low reuse
Message-ID: <6389@hubcap.clemson.edu>
Date: 5 Sep 89 01:21:47 GMT
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   On the subject of why reuse does not take place more frequently,
   the article appearing just before the one Scott cited ("Can Programmers
   Reuse Software?" IEEE Software, July '87, pp. 52-60) comments:

      If the worth of reusing an ADT could be accurately assessed,
      we would expect a person to reuse an ADT even if only a few
      percent of the creation effort could be saved... Software
      development personnel untrained in software reuse are 
      influenced by some unimportant features [of a component]
      and are not influenced by some important ones... users
      cannot properly assess the worth of reusing a candidate
      ADT...       

   Also, regarding the hardware analogy, it does not draw a direct
   correspondence between computer software and computer hardware;
   rather, it draws an analogy to the extensive catalogs of ICs, 
   resistors, capacitors, etc. used by electrical engineers to build
   all kinds of application-specific products.   It seeks to diminish 
   the "art form" mindset, replacing it with "engineering discipline".


   Bill Wolfe, wtwolfe@hubcap.clemson.edu