A Survey of Practical Software Adaptation Techniques

Software adaptation techniques appear in many disparate areas of research literature, and under many guises. this paper enables a clear and uniform understanding of the related research, in three ways. firstly, it surveys a broad range of relevant research, describing and contrasting the approaches of each using a uniform terminological and conceptual vocabulary. secondly, it identifies and discusses three commonly advocated principles within this work: component models, first-class connection and loose coupling. thirdly, it identifies and compares the various modularisation strategies employed by the surveyed work.