Emergent feature modularization

Virtual Separation of Concerns reduces the drawbacks of implementing product line variability with preprocessors. Developers can focus on certain features and hide others of no interest. However, these features eventually share elements between them, which might break feature modularization, since modifications in a feature result in problems for another. We present the concept of emergent feature modularization, which aims to establish contracts between features, to prevent developers from breaking other features when performing a maintenance task. These interfaces are product-line-aware, in the sense that it only considers valid feature combinations. We also present a prototype tool that implements the concept.