Abstract
This paper describes a two-part system that helps developers understand how to search and reuse complex software libraries. First, we present an approach for automatic retrieval of software components in reuse libraries. Second, the system implements a source-code recommendation approach which automatically constructs and delivers relevant code examples that demonstrate how the retrieved components can be used to solve particular programming problems. In arriving at such solutions, we utilize ontological modeling to provide semantic representation of the conceptual source-code knowledge in software libraries. This representation is the basis for computing entailments and enabling semantic reasoning. Our experiments show evidence that combining ontology formalisms with context-sensitive techniques enhance precision when retrieving and recommending reusable code even without mining a carefully crafted corpus of similar code.