XML-based retrieval of object-oriented frameworks

The productivity of software development largely depends on the degree of how much the ready-made software components are reused effectively. An object-oriented application framework is a semi-completed application. It enables software developers to reuse the knowledge from the application analysis and design phase as well as the development phase of software. As object-oriented frameworks are complex and large, the effectiveness of conventional approaches to retrieve reusable frameworks may be reduced. This paper proposes to model object-oriented frameworks using XML (Extensible Markup Language) and apply a retrieval technique for structured documents. It characterizes elements for describing framework information and suggests their schema. It also increases the effectiveness of search by expanding similar terms through query reformulation