How complex is my Product Line? The case for Variation Point Metrics

Software Product Lines aim at capturing the variability and commonality of a family of related programs that share a common set of assets. Variation points capture variability on the artifacts that constitute a product line. Depending on the feature configuration, the variation points are bound according to instantiation logic or mechanism to realize an actual program variant. We argue that this crucial role played by variation points makes them prime subjects for the development of metrics that could provide insights into qualitative and quantitative properties of product lines. In this paper, we show how a basic structural complexity metric can be adapted to variation points and apply it to a case study. We believe that further research on variation point metrics and corresponding tool support can significantly contribute to the current understanding of variability management specially for software intensive systems.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: VAMOS
• Authors: Roberto E. Lopez-Herrejon, Salvador Trujillo
• Keywords: Points Capture Variability, Product Lines, Software Engineering, VAMOS 2008, Variation Point