Reuse of existing software componets presents perhaps the most promising approach to reducing software development costs, while simultaneously increasing both productivity and product quality. Unfortunately, many reuse programs do not produce the expected improvements in productivity or quality.

The problem is generally due to an ad-hoc approach, rather than a systematic one. In this talk, we will discuss some systematic approaches to reuse and describe some success stories. The talk will emphasize some issues that can be applied to software reuse in a development environment changing rapidly due to improvements in technology. Some current projects using automatic generation of requirements, COTS (Commerical Off-The-Shelf) software integration and cost metrics will be discussed.

Background

Ronald J. Leach is a professor in the Department of Systems & Computer Science at Howard Univeristy in Washington, D.C., where he is the Director of Graduate Studies. He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Mathematics from the University of Maryland at College Park and the M.S. degree in Computer Science from John Hopkins University.

His research interests include most areas of software engineering, with special interest in software reuse, fault-tolerance, and software measurement. He is the author of Using C in Software Design, Advanced Topics in UNIX, Object-Oriented Design and Programming in C++, and the forthcoming Software Reuse: Methods, Models, Costs.

Dr. Leach is currently affiliated with the HUFAST project funded by the U.S. Air Force, the Center for Research in Evaluating Software Technology (CREST), and with NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.

CREST home page	News	Research	Seminar Series	Publications	Feedback