Editing Reusability (section)

{{Short description|Quality of software relevant to reuse}}
{{about|reusability in computer science}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2012}}
In [[computer programming]], '''reusability''' describes the quality of a [[software]] asset that affects its ability to be used in a [[software system]] for which it was ''not'' specifically designed. An asset that is easy to [[Code reuse|reuse]] and provides utility is considered to have high reusability. A related concept, '''leverage''' involves modifying an existing asset to meet system requirements.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Lombard Hill Group|title=What is Software Reuse|url=http://lombardhill.com/What_Reuse.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022010101/http://lombardhill.com/What_Reuse.htm|website=www.lombardhill.com|publisher=Lombard Hill Group|access-date=22 October 2014|archive-date=2014-10-22|url-status=dead|date=October 22, 2014}}</ref>

The ability to reuse can be viewed as the ability to build larger things from smaller parts, and to identify commonality among the parts. Reusability is often a required characteristic of [[platform (computing)|platform]] software. Reusability brings several aspects to [[software development]] that do not need to be considered when reusability is not required.

Reusability may be impacted by various [[DevOps]] aspects including: [[software build|build]], [[packaging]], [[distribution (business)|distribution]], [[installation (computer programs)|installation]], [[computer configuration|configuration]], [[Software deployment|deployment]], [[Software maintenance|maintenance]] and [[upgrade]]. If these aspects are not considered, software may seem to be reusable based on its [[software design|design]], but may not be reusable in practice.

Many reuse design principles were developed at the WISR workshops.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.umcs.maine.edu/~ftp/wisr/SEN-pap/node1.html |title=Design for Reuse and Object Oriented Reuse Methods |publisher=Umcs.maine.edu |date=1995-01-20 |access-date=2012-07-31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970715093310/http://www.umcs.maine.edu/~ftp/wisr/SEN-pap/node1.html |archive-date=1997-07-15 }}</ref> Although lacking consensus candidate design features for software reuse include:
* [[Adaptability|Adaptable]]
* Brief; small size
* [[Consistency]]
* [[Correctness (computer science)|Correctness]]
* [[Extensibility]]
* [[Speed|Fast]]
* Flexible
* [[Generic programming|Generic]]
* Localization of volatile/changeable design assumptions
* [[Modularity (programming)|Modularity]]
* [[Orthogonality]]
* Simple; low [[Complexity (disambiguation)|complexity]]
* [[Stability model|Stability]] under changing [[requirements]]

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