Component-Based Development (CBD)

Definition - What does Component-Based Development (CBD) mean?

Component-based development (CBD) is a procedure that accentuates the design and development of computer-based systems with the help of reusable software components. With CBD, the focus shifts from software programming to software system composing.

Component-based development techniques involve procedures for developing software systems by choosing ideal off-the-shelf components and then assembling them using a well-defined software architecture. With the systematic reuse of coarse-grained components, CBD intends to deliver better quality and output.

Component-based development is also known as component-based software engineering (CBSE).

Techopedia explains Component-Based Development (CBD)

Object-oriented modeling results in a plethora of fine-grained classes, objects and relationships. It is very hard to discover reusable parts among these smaller units. The idea behind CBD is to integrate the related parts and reuse them collectively. These integrated parts are known as components.

Component-based development techniques consist of non-conventional development routines, including component evaluation, component retrieval, etc. It is important that the CBD is carried out within a middleware infrastructure that supports the process, for example, Enterprise Java Beans.

The key goals of CBD are as follows:

Save time and money when building large and complex systems: Developing complex software systems with the help of off-the-shelf components helps reduce software development time substantially. Function points or similar techniques can be used to verify the affordability of the existing method.

Enhance the software quality: The component quality is the key factor behind the enhancement of software quality.

Detect defects within the systems: The CBD strategy supports fault detection by testing the components; however, finding the source of defects is challenging in CBD.

Some advantages of CBD include: