Developers need to evaluate reusable components before they decide to adopt them. When a developer evaluates a component they need to understand how that component can be used, and the behaviour that the component will exhibit. Existing evaluation techniques use formal analysis, sophisticated classification/search functionality, or rely on the presence of extensive component documentation or evaluation component versions.

Abstract- Service discovery has been recognised as an important activity for service-based systems. In this paper we describe a framework for dynamic service discovery that supports the identification of service during the execution time of service-based systems. In the framework, services are identified based on structural, behavioural, quality, and contextual characteristics of a system represented in query languages. The framework supports both pull and push modes of query execution. In the approach, a service is identified based on the computation of distances between a query and a candidate service. A prototype tool has been implemented in order to illustrate and evaluate the framework. The paper also describes the results of a set of experiments that we have conducted to evaluate the work. I.

The ability to retrieve software in an easy and efficient way confers competitive advantage on computer users in general and, even more especially, on users of wireless devices (like some laptops, PDAs, etc.). In this article, we present a software retrieval service that allows users to select and retrieve software in an easy and efficient way, anywhere and anytime. Two relevant components of this service are: 1) a software ontology (software catalog) which provides users with a semantic description of software elements, hiding the location and access method of various software repositories, and 2) a set of specialist agents that allow browsing of the software catalog (automatically customized for each user), and an efficient retrieval method for the selected software. These agents automatically adapt their behavior to different users and situations by considering the profile and preferences of the users and the network status. In summary, our software-obtaining process based on an ontology and autonomous and adaptive agents presents a qualitative advance with respect to existing solutions: our approach adapts to the features of users, relieving them from knowing the technical features of their devices and the location and access method of various remote software repositories.