Workshop 3 (W3)
10th
International Software Product Line Conference
(SPLC 2006)
21-24 August
2006
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Managing Variability for Software Product Lines: Working With
Variability Mechanisms
http://www.sei.cmu.edu/splc2006/variability_workshop.html
21
August 2006
Organizers:
Paul Clements, Software Engineering
Institute
Dirk Muthig, Fraunhofer
Institute for Experimental Software Engineering
Contact: clements@sei.cmu.edu
Description
Managing variability
is the essence of software product line practice. Variability enters the
product line picture through the need for different features, deployment on
different platforms, the desire for different quality attributes, and the
accommodation of different deployment scenarios. Eventually, every need for
variability manifests itself in one way or another in the actual artifacts that
populate a product line's core asset base. "Variability mechanisms" is the name
we give to the constructs that achieve variation at the artifact level.
Selecting the correct variability mechanism(s) can have a dramatic effect on
the cost to deploy new products, react to evolutionary pressures, and in
general maintain and grow the product line. But selection remains an ad hoc
process in nearly all product line organizations. This workshop is intended to
fill the void between variability requirements visible to those who deal with
features and other product-level concerns, and the variability mechanisms
visible to creators and consumers of a product line's core assets. The goal of
the workshop is to begin to codify a body of knowledge for the informed and
purposeful selection of variability mechanisms to use in a software product
line's core assets. The workshop will be highly interactive and focused on
making tangible progress towards answering specific questions relating to best
practices in variability management.
Submission: The deadline for submissions is July 7, 2006. For more information please visit the workshop homepage at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/splc2006/variability_workshop.html.
