Little or no empirical validation exists for many of software engineering's basic
assumptions. While some of these assumptions are intuitive, the need for scientific
experimentation remains clear. Several assumptions are made about the factors affecting
software reuse. In particular, the object-oriented paradigm and various human factors are
hypothesized to affect the successful reuse of software components. This dissertation
describes a controlled experiment designed to evaluate the impact of the object-oriented
paradigm and human factors on software reuse. The human factors under investigation
include managerial influence and cognitive abilities. This experiment concludes (a) the
object-oriented paradigm makes significant contributions to productivity, (b) language
differences are far more important when programmers reuse than when they do not, and (c)
the object-oriented paradigm holds a particular affinity to the reuse process, (d) reuse
results in higher productivity than no reuse independent of language paradigm, (e) the level
of management encouragement does affect the reuse process, and (f) the cognitive ability of
visualization does relate to effective reuse.
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