Introduction to software product line engineering

Abstract

The way that goods are produced has changed significantly in the course of time. Formerly goods were handcrafted for individual customers. By and by, the number of people who could afford to buy various kinds of products increased. In the domain of automobiles this led to Ford's invention of the production line, which enabled production for a mass market much more cheaply than individual product creation on a handcrafted basis. However, the production line reduced the possibilities for diversification. Roughly, both types of products, individual and mass produced ones can be identified in the software domain as well: they are denoted as individual software and standard software. Generally, each of these types of products has its drawbacks. Individual software products are rather expensive, while standard software products lack sufficient diversification2.© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.