Software Frameworks

Abstract

In introducing software frameworks, it is useful to distinguish between their purpose – what they are for – and their definition – what they are. Broadly speaking, software frameworks are a form of software reuse that primarily promotes the reuse of entire architectures within a narrowly defined application domain. They propose an architecture that is optimized for all applications within this domain and make its reuse across applications in the domain possible. Experienced software engineers who develop several related applications reuse architectures as a matter of course. Software frameworks are intended to formalize and make explicit this form of architectural reuse. They allow the investment that is made into designing the architecture of an application to be made available across projects and across design teams.

This and other references in this section are concerned with product lines. There is as usual much terminological confusion but in this report it will be assumed that product lines are built around a framework.