In software development, a feature model is a compact representation of all the products of the Software Product Line (SPL) in terms of "features". Feature models are visually represented by means of feature diagrams. Feature models are widely used during the whole product line development process and are commonly used as input to produce other assets such as documents, architecture definition, or pieces of code.
A SPL is a family of related programs. When the units of program construction are features—increments in program functionality or development—every program in an SPL is identified by a unique and legal combination of features, and vice versa.
Feature models were first introduced in the Feature-Oriented Domain Analysis (FODA) method by Kang in 1990. Since then, feature modeling has been widely adopted by the software product line community and a number of extensions have been proposed.
Read more about Feature Model: Background, Feature Modeling Notations, Semantics, Configuring Feature Models, Properties and Analyses, Tools, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words feature and/or model:
“A snake, with mottles rare,
Surveyed my chamber floor,
In feature as the worm before,
But ringed with power.”
—Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
“She represents the unavowed aspiration of the male human being, his potential infidelity—and infidelity of a very special kind, which would lead him to the opposite of his wife, to the “woman of wax” whom he could model at will, make and unmake in any way he wished, even unto death.”
—Marguerite Duras (b. 1914)