Development of a new method and toolchain for the configuration / tailoring and derivation of a development process with development environment to develop product lines

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Detlef Streitferdt
• Subject Area: Software Engineering and Programming Languages
• Term: from 2013 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 228146981

More and more companies focus on the advantages of reuse enabled by the product line concept. Product lines are in between individual software and mass products. The special importance of a product line within a company is given by the large number of applications derived from the product line. Thus, a larger fraction of a company’s product portfolio depends on the product line compared to individual software products.The development of software with the product line approach requires a product line development process. This process needs to be tailored to its environment to reach development goals with a given quality. The environment influences the development goals through several factors which could be the structure and goals of the company developing the product line or stakeholder experiences with the different artifacts of the development process. To reach the development goals with the best possible degree, the influencing factors need to be analysed as completely as possible and they need to be related to the development process and the development environment. Thus, the development of a product line for developer environments is very interesting and promising. A developers environment is the term used here for all artifacts and processes of a product line development process with development environment. A well tailorable developers environment is an essential requirement and challenge for the success of a company using the product line concept. The developers environment is needed for the creation/development, the analysis, and maintenance of a product line.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants