@conference {528, title = {Visualization and Exploration of Optimal Variants in Product Line Engineering}, booktitle = {Software Product Line Conference}, year = {2013}, address = {Tokyo, Japan}, abstract = {The decision-making process in Product Line Engineering (PLE) is often concerned with variant qualities such as cost, battery life, or security. Pareto-optimal variants, with respect to a set of objectives such as minimizing a variant{\textquoteright}s cost while maximizing battery life and security, are variants in which no single quality can be improved without sacrificing other qualities. We propose a novel method and a tool for visualization and exploration of a multi-dimensional space of optimal variants (i.e., a Pareto front). The visualization method is an integrated, interactive, and synchronized set of complementary views onto a Pareto front specifically designed to support PLE scenarios, including: understanding differences among variants and their positioning with respect to quality dimensions; solving trade-offs; selecting the most desirable variants; and understanding the impact of changes during product line evolution on a variant{\textquoteright}s qualities. We present an initial experimental evaluation showing that the visualization method is a good basis for supporting these PLE scenarios.}, doi = {10.1145/2491627.2491647}, url = {http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2491647}, attachments = {http://gsd.uwaterloo.ca/sites/default/files/2013_SPLC_ClaferMooVizualizer_PAPER.pdf , http://gsd.uwaterloo.ca/sites/default/files/2013_SPLC_ClaferMooVizualizer_PRESENTATION.pdf}, author = {Alexandr Murashkin and Micha{\l} Antkiewicz and Derek Rayside and Krzysztof Czarnecki} }