The status of Object-oriented Software Reuse and Reusability Assessment in the Kenyan Software Engineering Industry

Abstract

There are published claims of widespread ad-hoc reuse within the software Engineering industry—a situation that has caused organizations not to gain optimal benefits from reuse. The general impression created by literature is that, software developers hardly consider the concept measurement as a way of assessing reusability of developed software, thus the resulting software lack adequate reusability. This result to a common conclusion that, the software Engineering industry is still grappling with software development challenges that reuse is intended to solve. The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the status of reuse and reusability assessment, which should form a basis for addressing the problems that hinder effective reuse. This paper reports the findings of an empirical study that surveyed software developers who had knowledge in OO software development. From the analysis of fifty-four (54) valid responses, the study establishes the status of reuse and reusability assessment, as well as the perceptions and awareness of OO developers on the concept of software measurement, with regards to software quality. Based on the findings of the survey, we give recommendations on how organizations can improve the reuse practice.

Keywords: Software reuse, Software reusability, Software Metrics, Software Measurement