Adding Features to Component-Based Systems

Features and components are two different structuring mechanisms for software systems. Both are very useful, but lead to different structures for the same system. Usually, features are spread over more than one component. In this paper, we aim at reconciling the two structuring mechanisms. We show how component orientation can support adding new features to a base system. We present a method for adding features in a systematic way to component-based systems that have been specified according to the method proposed by Cheesman and Daniels [5].