Applying Concept Formation Methods to Software Reuse

This paper describes an approach to software reuse that involves generating and retrieving abstractions from existing software systems using concept formation methods. The potential of the approach is illustrated through two important activities of the reuse process. First, the concept hierarchy generated by the concept formation methods is used for organizing and retrieving the artifacts inside a repository. Second, the generated concepts are used in identifying new abstractions that may be converted into new more generic artifacts with better reuse potential. These experiments are part of a major software engineering research project involving many business and academic partners.