Empirical evaluation of a domain-oriented component library based on an embedded case study design

This paper presents an empirical evaluation of the real-life reuse of a domain-oriented library of problem-solving methods, in which top-level methods are related with respect to a domain model in an application area. First, the author clarifies research questions and the assumptions underlying this study, in accordance with a framework of case study research design. The organization of the library and its deployment processes are then briefly introduced. Taking account of the recurring modification of the library, the stability and productivity are investigated with respect to the code-size changes and the number of person-hours spent on the maintenance. Finally, it is concluded that the stability of a domain model is ensured by module dependency, and facilitates productive reuse of the domain-oriented library. (C) 1999 Academic Press.