CenterLine Software Inc has carried out a European survey of 300 or so Unix and object-oriented software developers, asking them about software re-use. A third of the companies asked were investing heavily in object-oriented languages, 90% of them choosing C++. The number one goal is apparently software re-use (37%), with 33% looking for better quality code and 29% hoping for faster development times. But there is some argument over just what re-use is, with 24% saying they mean simple cutting and pasting, another 24% using commercial class libraries, and 25% developing their own class libraries in-house. Only 9% currently have a formal re-use programme in place. The biggest barrier to implementing code re-use is the high entry costs associated with producing re-usable code (the cost savings come later on down the line), and a general lack of commitment from managers. Centerline hopes to stimulate the market by introducing its own re-use enable this autumn, enabling code developers to publish and retrieve re-usable code over the corporate network using text retrieval facilities. It also plans a yellow-pages style CD of third-party class library suppliers.
