FOOM - Feature-based object oriented modeling: Implementation of a process to extract and extend software product line architecture

FOOM is a synthesis of the FODA (Feature Oriented Domain Analysis) and Horseshoe models. It includes an Object Oriented approach to Product Line Family architectures. It focuses on identifying user-driven features throughout the product line architecture; organizing the architectural assets to lend them to substantial re-use: and instantiating multiple products from a single architecture. The Unified Software Development Process (USP) is used as a template for describing the architectural transformation from a base product to a product-line. Unified Modeling Language (UML) is used as a notation for the various assets developed in the FOOM process. This paper introduces the notion of a feature class and feature list. The feature list serves as contracts between the product and the features. A simple heuristic based on the definition of user visible objects and non-user visible objects is used in building the feature model. In its entirety, FOOM is a synthesis of FODA and the horseshoe models, but we are concerned with the aspects that integrate and extend the FODA methodology in this paper.