AN INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM FOR SOFTWARE COMPONENTS * Murray Wood, Department of Computer Science, University of Strathclyde, GLASGOW G 1 1XH, Scotland. lan SommerviUe, Department of Computing, University of Lancaster, LANCASTER LAI 4YR, England. ABSTRACT This paper describes an information re~eval system which is specificallydesigned to be used for storing and retrieving information about software components. Rather than use a rcwicval mechanism which is simply based on keyword descriptions,we have made use of dcvelopments in natural language research to represent component information in a form which encodes semantics as well as syntax. W e call this the component descriptor frame. The paper describes the basic ideas which underlie our system and describes how itcan be used for component information retrievaL An example of the system in use is presented. The version of the system described here has been fully implemented and is now being developed as part of a more general reuse support system. Keywords : reusable software, software components, software ~!assification, software retrievaL *A version of this paper has been accepted for publication in a special issue of the IEE/BCS Software Engineering Journal which is concerned with software reuse. It is reproduced here with the permission of
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