Measuring software reusability

This paper examines various approaches to measuring software reusability. Knowing what makes software “reusable” can help us learn how to build new reusable components and help us to identify potentially useful modules in existing programs. The paper begins by establishing a taxonomy of approaches to reusability metrics based on their empirical or qualitative orientation. The paper then examines the disciplines, theories, and techniques used by numerous existing reusability measurement methods as they relate to the taxonomy. Recognizing that most of these methods focus exclusively on internal characteristics of components and ignore environmental factors, the paper challenges reusability researchers to incorporate domain attributes into their metrics. In fact, the application domain represents a critically important factor in whether or not we find a component reusable. The research, framework, and conclusions should provide a useful reference for persons interested in ways to determine the reusability of software.1