Understanding 'variation' in component-based development: case findings from practice

This paper discusses the importance of understanding and capturing variation in component-based development using the context of a six-month action research project carried out within a major system solution provider. The issues raised in the empirical context show that the norms of given development disciplines need to adapt for component-based development projects and that this is neither trivial nor easy. In addressing such issues, the implications of adopting a domain-based approach to component-based development are explored alongside the means by which this may be undertaken. This exploration highlights the need to provide an explicit understanding of variation and the ramifications of providing a component with varying degrees of context independence are explored via a scenario developed in practice. The scenario shows that neither reuse nor variation should be allowed to be chaotic if component-based development is to handle flexibility in a more cost-effective and coherent manner than system maintenance currently does. The paper concludes by presenting an example of an elaborated use case to illustrate how existing techniques can be modified to provide a structured environment for understanding variation. Holistically, the discussion shows that component-based development should not be viewed as a singular discipline, but rather as an umbrella activity that requires the melding of a number of important research areas. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.