From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_DATE autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Xref: utzoo comp.lang.ada:5664 comp.software-eng:5977 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!Firewall!uunet!mcsun!ukc!dcl-cs!aber-cs!athene!pcg From: pcg@aber.ac.uk (Piercarlo Grandi) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.software-eng Subject: Re: Reserve Demobilization System Built Around Reused Ada Code Message-ID: Date: 14 Jun 91 17:32:50 GMT References: <676362409.27@egsgate.FidoNet.Org> <1991Jun11.062703.15671@netcom.COM> Sender: pcg@aber-cs.UUCP Organization: Coleg Prifysgol Cymru List-Id: On 11 Jun 91 06:27:03 GMT, jls@netcom.COM (Jim Showalter) said: (somebody)> Should we call it reuse when the end user is different, and (somebody)> otherwise call it enhancement? Depends on what (somebody)> techno-political games you want to play... jls> My definition of reuse is quite simple: any time you didn't have to jls> write a line of code, you reused it. This may not be the definition jls> of reuse people envision when they use the term "reuse", but in the jls> end all that truly matters is the COST--a line saved is a line jls> earned. But this does not capture what people "really" mean by reuse. Surely then using a DBMS, OS, math library, is "reuse" then, by your definition. IMNHO "reuse" is so poorly defined, because everybody (but me of course) does not understand sw development, that any discussion like "using X means more reuse" is pointless. For example the use of 4GLs, DBMSes, X windows, and math/GKS/stats/... libraries to me it is all reuse. Reuse is much more prevalent than people think, thanks to old fashioned concepts like servers (process based reuse) and libraries (module based reuse). Usually, I suspect, reuse is meant to be applied to the narrow case where one does custom sw development, which is no longer the case in most commercial installation; nearly everybody nowadays is using DBMSes and enjoying the benefits of not reimplementing from scratch data management programs. -- Piercarlo Grandi | ARPA: pcg%uk.ac.aber@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk Dept of CS, UCW Aberystwyth | UUCP: ...!mcsun!ukc!aber-cs!pcg Penglais, Aberystwyth SY23 3BZ, UK | INET: pcg@aber.ac.uk