Sixteen questions about software reuse

Abstract

Software reuse is the use of existing software knowledge or artifacts to build new software artifacts. Reuse is sometimes confused with porting. The two are distinguished as follows: Reuse is using an asset in different systems; porting is moving a system across environments or platforms. For example, in Figure 1 a component in System A is shown used again in System B; this is an example of reuse. System A, developed for Environment 1, is shown moved into Environment 2; this is an example of porting.