Research Issues in Characterizing the Performance of Reusable Software Components

The software reuse practices of many organizations could be described as “ad hoc,” at best. Some reuse efforts do not consider even basic concepts such as completely specifying or correctly verifying reusable code. Those organizations that do attempt to specify formally their reusable assets often do so at the expense of neglecting issues concerned with performance. The area of Software Performance Engineering (SPE) provides various measures for determining the responsiveness of the software aspects of a computing system. Applying SPE methods to reusable software would aid future clients in assuring that performance objectives are met. This paper presents some of the basic issues associated with the need for characterizing the performance of reusable components. ____________________________________________________