Formal approach to instantiating core assets in product line engineering

Abstract

Product line engineering (PLE) is one of the recent and effective reuse approaches that enable developing a number of applications by instantiating a core asset. Although numerous PLE methodologies have been introduced, it is still unclear what should be the elements of a core asset and how to systematically instantiate core assets for products. Formal specifications can play a key role in defining detailed and precise instantiation process. In this paper, we present a meta model of core assets and show how to specify core assets in a formal language, Object-Z. Then, we propose rules that precisely define a process and constraints for instantiating core assets. Using the proposed formal specification, core asset instantiating can be carried out precisely and correctly, yielding high quality software development.