Adaptively shrinking software

摘要

Methods, articles, signals, and systems are provided for adaptively shrinking software. The software includes one or more adaptive features. A tracking facility tracks use of the adaptive features, and when it is determined that a given feature is unwanted or unnecessary in the software configuration preferred by a given user, a separation facility separates the feature from the rest of the software. The feature is then archived or deleted. In this manner, resources such as disk space are conserved, program load time and memory requirements are reduced, and user interfaces and supporting code are tailored to meet the needs of particular users.

主权项

1. A method performed by at least one processor, the method comprising:
providing one or more adaptive features of a computer program; providing one or more permanent features of the computer program; receiving a feature record corresponding to one of the adaptive features of the computer program, wherein the feature record includes at least a candidate status that indicates whether the one or more of the adaptive features is removable; determining, from the feature record, a history of invocation of the one of the adaptive features by one or more users; determining, from the feature record, a feature-specific separation criterion associated with the one of the adaptive features; comparing, using a computer system, the history of invocation to the feature-specific separation criterion to assess from the feature record, the candidate status of the one of the adaptive features for removal; and selecting the one of the adaptive features for removal from the computer program based on the candidate status of the one of the adaptive features.