Comparing Reuse Strategies: An Empirical Evaluation of Developer Views

Software reuse has been the subject of empirical studies for decades. There have been studies of reuse methods, success factors, approaches and tools. An open question is still whether and how reuse differs between embedded and nonem-bedded systems, an important issue for the aerospace industry. This article describes the results from a survey taken at a major aerospace corporation, in order to characterize developers' views on software reuse. 78 developers participated in the survey. The questions focused on modern reuse strategies (whether they were used alone or in combination) and their effectiveness.