Towards Engineering Similarity Functions for Software Engineering Experience

The reuse of software engineering experience requires the support for similarity-based retrieval. The meaning of the term "similar" can be specified in many ways. One is to define the similarity mathematically in form of a function. However, the systematic, goal-oriented definition of a similarity function that fulfills the practical needs of industrial-stength projects remains a challenge. This report suggests a basic procedure (consisting of the steps "characterize available knowledge", "construct usage scenario", "identify properties of similarity function", "translate properties into mathematical formulas", and "validate similarity function") and exemplifies this procedure using two examples from the domain of software engineering.