Product-line analysis cookbook: a classification system for complex analysis toolchains

Abstract

Adopting Product Line Engineering (PLE) approaches in the context of software-intensive systems reduces overall development and maintenance costs, reduces time to market and leads to an overall improvement in product quality. The Software and System Product Line (SPL) community has provided a large number of different analysis approaches and tools, which were developed in different contexts, answer different questions, and can contribute to the fulfillment of different analysis goals. Typically, these analysis tools are initially developed as part of a research study, where they serve a specific purpose, e. g. for investigating the use of a new technology, or to demonstrate the transfer of methods from other fields. Generally, such purpose is aligned with a specific, but not explicitly stated, high-level goal. The pursuit of these goals requires holistic approaches, i. e. integrated toolchains and classification of analyses, which are documented as a centralized collection of wisdom. Therefore, we propose a classification system which describes existing analyses and reveals possible combinations, i. e. integrated toolchains, and provide first examples. This method supports the search for toolchains which address complex industrial needs. With the support of the SPL community, we hope to collaboratively document existing analyses and corresponding goals on an open platform.