Case-based reasoning in software engineering

Case-based reasoning provides a new and revealing perspective for the reuse of system specifications during requirements engineering. The authors examine case-based reasoning with old specifications during requirements engineering using complex examples of requirements reuse and case studies of observed successful case-based reuse. Intelligent tool support for requirements engineering needs domain knowledge to develop and validate requirements specifications. The authors propose a paradigm for specification reuse which exploits the different skills and domain knowledge possessed by software engineers and support tools. A similar approach has also been implemented in several case-based reasoning tools. An intelligent advisor, known as AIR, has been designed and implemented to assist reuse of old specification cases