Abstract
For more than ten years we have developed and maintained a software product line of legal expert systems. They share certain functionality, such as interaction with the user by means of a graphical interface, capturing data, storing information in a database, and printing documents. They differ mainly in two points: Domain descriptions and technical infrastructure.
When we designed the architecture for this software product line, we focused on two requirements in particular: Domain experts should be involved in development, but should not have to learn a general-purpose programming language. Changes in domain descriptions should leave technical code untouched – and vice versa.
Using a meta-level architecture we achieved a sound decoupling: Domain descriptions are kept in the meta level. Appropriate engines included in the base level act according to these descriptions.
We present the four meta-level mechanisms which we have developed for the design of this software product line. They separate domain descriptions from technical code in the following areas: data reference and access, input and output control, application and domain logic, and user command control.
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Fritsch, C., Renz, B. (2004). Four Mechanisms for Adaptable Systems. In: Nord, R.L. (eds) Software Product Lines. SPLC 2004. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3154. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-28630-1_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-28630-1_4
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