FACTORS AFFECTING CODE REUSE: lMPLICATIONS FOR A MODEL OF COMPUTER AIDED SOFTWARE ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT PERFORMANCE

Abstract

An examination of code reuse at a large financial institution yields insights into the process of code reuse. The software development environment -- based on an integrated CASE system -- was designed to support code reuse, but at the end of its first two years we find that programmers are not taking full advantage of the reuse opportunities which the CASE environment provides, The organization has provided technical support for code reuse, but has not made organizational adjustments, and the technical solution alone does not suffice. We also review an existing economic model of CASE development performance that incorporates code reuse, suggesting refinements that are based upon our observations. Finally, we draw some conclusions about steps that managers can take to promote code reuse.