A 3D visualisation to enhance cognition in software product line engineering

Software Product Line (SPL) Engineering is a development paradigm where core artefacts are developed and subsequently configured into different software products dependent on a particular customer's requirements. In industrial product lines, the scale of the configuration (variability management) can become extremely complex and very difficult to manage. Visualisation is widely used in software engineering and has proven useful to amplify cognition in data intensive applications. Adopting this approach within software product line engineering can help stakeholders in supporting essential work tasks by enhancing their understanding of large and complex product lines. In this paper we present our research into the application of visualisation techniques and cognitive theory to address SPL complexity and to enhance cognition in support of the SPL engineering processes. Specifically we present a 3D visualisation approach to enhance stakeholder cognition and thus support variability management and decision making during feature configuration.