One of my best friends needed some help about componentware for his research. Here is the text that I wrote for him. Hope to be helpfull.

Do you know, what do the Volkswagen Golf, New Beetle and Audi TT have in common? They all share the same chassis. From the outside, they appear to be very different vehicles but the platforms are the same. Mass production demands standardized parts across the entire automobile industry. By standardizing production of components, they have been able to lower production costs and time. And often eliminate testing for many items that have already proved to be used in widespread. So, what may we learn from automobile industry?

In early ages of software develepment; firms wrote their own “Libraries” which were ready codes written in any languages. Later on, as object oriented languages became more popular, prewritten modules expanded to class-libraries. Class Libraries were generally written in C++. Modern component software is often language-independent. It is possible to build program in whatever language you have elected to use. COM, .NET DDL’s, Java and ActiveX technologies achive the purpose of components. Componentware is the name for these ready to use software modules. Componentware stands by being attractive to the widest number of developers. This requirement also ensures that prefabricated routines have the longest life span.

Here is some reasons why you should use components:

• Production is simplified
• Programs take less time to develop
• Less to test
• Their reliability is proven
• They have higher quality than you may afford
• They can be reused on a range of products
• Costs can be spread across development
• Development overheads are proportioately reduced

Componentware enables latecomers to assemble major sections of rival program with lightning speed. This gives the developers time to concentrate on the business logic of the project and make sure it works more reliable, has sweeter interfaces, etc. as the components in automobile industry.