Visual Assessment Techniques for Component-Based Framework Evolution

Many component models have been proposed to address the challenge of reducing software development time and costs. Such models often offer similar functionality. We study how developers can assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of such models, based on information about the component development process, and the component framework performance. We use a visual tool to gather such information and support our approach. We validate our approach on ROBOCOP, a complex component framework used in the industry.