Toward the automatic assessment of evolvability for reusable class libraries

Many sources agree that managing the evolution of an OO system constitutes a complex and resource-consuming task. This is particularly true for reusable class libraries, as the user interface must be preserved to allow for version compatibility. Thus, the symptomatic detection of potential instabilities during the design phase of such libraries may serve to avoid later problems. This paper presents a fuzzy logic-based approach for evaluating the interface stability of a reusable class library, by using structural metrics as stability indicators.