An Essay on Software Reuse

This paper explores software reuse. It discusses briefly some economic incentives for developing effective software reuse technology and notes that different kinds of software reuse, such as direct use without modification and reuse of abstract software modules after refinement, have different technological implications. It sketches some problem areas to be addressed if we are to achieve the goal of devising practical software reuse systems. These include information retrieval problems and finding effective methods to aid us in understanding how programs work. There is a philosophical epilogue which stresses the importance of having realistic expectations about the benefits of software reuse.