Helping object-oriented framework use and evaluation by means of historical use information

The effort needed in learning how to use an object-oriented framework can be reduced with information about the way that the framework is normally used. Also, this kind of information can help the evaluation of framework use, by means of the comparison of how a development is near or far the supposed way of framework use. Another advantage related to availability of historical information about framework use is to produce a feedback for framework developers, which can observe design weakness highlighted by frequent presumed framework misuse. This work proposes an approach for quantifying the typical way a framework is used, useful for learning how to use it, and by means of statistical comparison, to evaluate framework-based software as well as frameworks. A set of tools developed for automatic obtaining and for browsing this kind of information is presented too.