A conceptual graph feature model for use in developing software product-lines

Software product-line methods have proven to be an effective approach to developing software product families. At the core of these methods is a feature model that describes the product-line. One of the more popular models is the FODA feature model proposed by the Feature Oriented Design and Analysis (FODA) method. A significant attraction of this model is its simplicity; however, this simplicity has also led to many proposed extensions that seek to expand the expressivity of the model. Unfortunately, these extensions are often incompatible with each other or with the goals of the original FODA feature model designers. This dissertation proposes a new feature model that is by its nature more flexible and more expressive than the FODA model and one that can embrace new feature model requirements in a consistent manner. This dissertation proposes a conceptual graph-based feature model. Conceptual graphs share a close relationship with natural languages and, as a result, they are very easy to read. This makes them an excellent knowledge-based representation that is easily mastered by software engineers responsible for building and maintaining feature models. Conceptual graphs are also based on first-order logic and therefore have clear and unambiguous semantics---a requirement for developing product specifications. The resulting conceptual graph feature model (CGFM) proposed by this dissertation supports the consolidated list of feature model requirements derived from the original FODA model plus many of the proposed extensions to that model. An extensible conceptual graph modeling language (CGML) was also developed to describe the domain vocabulary, constraints, and rules which make up the CGFM. In order to demonstrate the modeling capabilities of the CGFM, a prototype of a conceptual graph feature modeling system was developed. An example camera product-line was modeled using this modeling system. The example demonstrated the flexibility of the language and directly showed that the language satisfied the majority of the requirements of the FODA model and the proposed extensions to that model.