<s>
Software	B-Application
product	I-Application
lines	I-Application
(	O
SPLs	O
)	O
,	O
or	O
software	B-Application
product	I-Application
line	I-Application
development	O
,	O
refers	O
to	O
software	B-General_Concept
engineering	I-General_Concept
methods	O
,	O
tools	O
and	O
techniques	O
for	O
creating	O
a	O
collection	O
of	O
similar	O
software	O
systems	O
from	O
a	O
shared	O
set	O
of	O
software	O
assets	O
using	O
a	O
common	O
means	O
of	O
production	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Carnegie	O
Mellon	O
Software	B-General_Concept
Engineering	I-General_Concept
Institute	O
defines	O
a	O
software	B-Application
product	I-Application
line	I-Application
as	O
"	O
a	O
set	O
of	O
software-intensive	O
systems	O
that	O
share	O
a	O
common	O
,	O
managed	O
set	O
of	O
features	O
satisfying	O
the	O
specific	O
needs	O
of	O
a	O
particular	O
market	O
segment	O
or	O
mission	O
and	O
that	O
are	O
developed	O
from	O
a	O
common	O
set	O
of	O
core	O
assets	O
in	O
a	O
prescribed	O
way.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
characteristic	O
that	O
distinguishes	O
software	B-Application
product	I-Application
lines	I-Application
from	O
previous	O
efforts	O
is	O
predictive	O
versus	O
opportunistic	O
software	O
reuse	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Rather	O
than	O
put	O
general	O
software	B-Architecture
components	I-Architecture
into	O
a	O
library	O
in	O
the	O
hope	O
that	O
opportunities	O
for	O
reuse	O
will	O
arise	O
,	O
software	B-Application
product	I-Application
lines	I-Application
only	O
call	O
for	O
software	O
artifacts	O
to	O
be	O
created	O
when	O
reuse	O
is	O
predicted	O
in	O
one	O
or	O
more	O
products	O
in	O
a	O
well	O
defined	O
product	O
line	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Recent	O
advances	O
in	O
the	O
software	B-Application
product	I-Application
line	I-Application
field	O
have	O
demonstrated	O
that	O
narrow	O
and	O
strategic	O
application	O
of	O
these	O
concepts	O
can	O
yield	O
order	O
of	O
magnitude	O
improvements	O
in	O
software	B-General_Concept
engineering	I-General_Concept
capability	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
early	O
software	B-Application
product	I-Application
line	I-Application
methods	O
at	O
the	O
genesis	O
of	O
the	O
field	O
provided	O
the	O
best	O
software	B-General_Concept
engineering	I-General_Concept
improvement	O
metrics	O
seen	O
in	O
four	O
decades	O
,	O
the	O
latest	O
generation	O
of	O
software	B-Application
product	I-Application
line	I-Application
methods	O
and	O
tools	O
are	O
exhibiting	O
even	O
greater	O
improvements	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
New	O
generation	O
methods	O
are	O
extending	O
benefits	O
beyond	O
product	O
creation	O
into	O
maintenance	O
and	O
evolution	O
,	O
lowering	O
the	O
overall	O
complexity	O
of	O
product	O
line	O
development	O
,	O
increasing	O
the	O
scalability	O
of	O
product	O
line	O
portfolios	O
,	O
and	O
enabling	O
organizations	O
to	O
make	O
the	O
transition	O
to	O
software	B-Application
product	I-Application
line	I-Application
practice	O
with	O
orders	O
of	O
magnitude	O
less	O
time	O
,	O
cost	O
and	O
effort	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Recently	O
the	O
concepts	O
of	O
software	B-Application
product	I-Application
lines	I-Application
have	O
been	O
extended	O
to	O
cover	O
systems	O
and	O
software	B-General_Concept
engineering	I-General_Concept
holistically	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
reflected	O
by	O
the	O
emergence	O
of	O
industry	O
standard	O
families	O
like	O
ISO	O
265xx	O
on	O
systems	O
and	O
software	B-General_Concept
engineering	I-General_Concept
practices	O
for	O
product	O
lines	O
.	O
</s>
