Software Reusability: a Study of Why Software Reuse Has Not Developed into aViable Practice in the Department of Defense

摘要

Recent events, the DOD Software Master Plan and the new DARPA initiatives, haveindicated a renewed interest in DOD to implement an effective software reuse program. Although this goal was attempted previously, it met with poor results. Three possible explanations of why reuse has not become a viable practice in the DOD were posited. The first explanation was that reuse in the DOD failed because there was no single higher order language; the second explanation was that reuse failed solely because of the barriers inhibiting it; and the hypothesized explanation was that reuse failed because DOD did not follow an adequate change strategy based on a change model from organizational design literature. The literature was examined in light of the three possible explanations, and a telephone survey was performed to gain further evidence from personnel, both inside and outside the DOD, that are involved in reuse connected with the DOD. The results of the phone survey were analyzed in a qualitative manner based on the literature review, and then each possible explanation was analyzed against both the literature and survey results. The hypothesized explanation was deemed to provide the best fit. Keywords: Theses. (KR)