Specification and Collaboration Driven Software Component Selection- Building a Framework for Component Selection

Building software systems from previously existing components can save timeand effort while increasing productivity. The key to a successful Component-Based Development (CBD) is to get the required components. Howevercomponents obtained from other developers often show different behavioursthan what are required. Thus adapting the components into the system beingdeveloped becomes an extra development and maintenance cost. This costoften offsets the benefits of CBD.Imprecise component specifications and user requirements are the main reasonsthat cause the difficulty of finding the required components. Furthermorethere is little support for component users and developers to collaborateand clear the misunderstanding when selecting components as CBDhas two separate development processes for them. This book aims at buildinga framework in which component users and developers can collaborate toselect components with tools support by exchanging component and requirementspecifications. These specifications should be precise enough sothat behavioural mismatches can be detected.This book would interest software developers and component vendors. It isalso a reference for researchers in component-based software engineering.