Browsing by Author "Kähönen, Simo"

Context. Software Product Line (SPL) is a set of software system products that have common features and product-specific features. Dynamic Software Product Line (DSPL) is an SPL that features runtime variability. Objective. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the latest research related to SPL dynamic variability in general. The second objective of this study is to investigate dynamic variability modeling methods and tools that are utilized and introduced for SPLs by the scholars. The third objective of this study is to investigate testing methods and tools that are utilized and introduced for DSPLs by the scholars. Method. The scientific research method of this study is Systematic Literature Review (SLR). Papers included are published between years 2015 and 2017. Four scientific digital libraries were used as data sources for the papers. Results. The main result of this study is that between years 2015 and 2017, there has been an active research community studying SPL dynamic variability. For all 25 papers included in this study, on a scale of 0 to 10, the arithmetic mean of the quality scores is 7.14 (median is 7.5). One industrial practice DSPL implementation case study was presented by the scholars. Three other case studies seemed to be more or less simplified exemplar of industry practice DSPL implementations. Two studies were focusing in testing aspects of DSPLs. The second result of this study is that scholars have utilized 19 existing dynamic variability modeling methods for SPLs, and introduced 17 new dynamic variability modeling methods for SPLs. Scholars have utilized seven existing dynamic variability modeling tools for SPLs, and introduced four new dynamic variability modeling tools for SPLs. The third result of this study is that scholars have introduced four new testing methods for DSPLs, and utilized two existing testing tools for DSPLs. Conclusions. The general conclusion of this study is that albeit SPL dynamic variability has been actively studied between years 2015 and 2017, there are still open research areas, especially in the field of industry practice use and testing of DSPLs. 2012 ACM Computing Classification System (CCS): Software and its engineering -> Software creation and management -> Software development techniques -> Reusability -> Software product lines Software and its engineering -> Software creation and management -> Designing software -> Software design engineering