Automated reusability quality analysis of OO legacy software

Software reuse increases productivity, reduces costs, and improves quality. Object-oriented (OO) software has been shown to be inherently more reusable than functionally decomposed software; however, most OO software was not specifically designed for reuse [Software Reuse Guidelines and Methods, Plenum Press, New York, 1991]. This paper describes the analysis, in terms of quality factors related to reusability, contained in an approach that aids significantly in assessing existing OO software for reusability. An automated tool implementing the approach is validated by comparing the tool's quality determinations to that of human experts. This comparison provides insight into how OO software metrics should be interpreted in relation to the quality factors they purport to measure. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.