Viewpoint-centred reuse: bridging the gap between reusability and the needs of the reuser

The "Reuse without Reusers" SyndromeThe problems of low productivity, late delivery and poor software quality are, unfortunately, characteristic of the software industry (Horowitz and Munson 1989). Increasingly, software developers are looking towards reuse as a possible solution to these problems.However, attempting to develop genuinely reusable artifacts without a firm understanding of the reuser's (or potential reuser's) needs, i.e. their "reuse requirements", is a difficult process. A lack of understanding and general detachment of the reuser from the reuse process is a situation recognised in this paper as the "reuse without reusers" syndrome.The aim of this paper is to highlight the role played by the reuser in the reuse process, and to encourage more user-centric approaches to key reuse activities such as domain analysis (Prieto-Diaz 1990). We do this by describing a reuse process called Viewpoint-Centred reuse (VCR), which forms part of our current research agenda in the ART (Applied Reuse Technology) project at the University of Hertfordshire, UK.