Narrow Results

This paper outlines a framework which supports the use of multiple perspectives in system development, and provides a means for developing and applying systems design methods. The framework uses "viewpoints" to partition the system specification, the development method and the formal representations used to express the system specifications. This VOSE (viewpoint-oriented systems engineering) framework can be used to support the design of heterogeneous and composite systems. We illustrate the use of the framework with a small example drawn from composite system development and give an account of prototype automated tools based on the framework.

The downstream activities of large scale software systems life-cycle require team effort of several people over extended time periods. Current computing environments, exemplified by Unix, provide limited support for such team activities. Matisse is a knowledge-based team programming environment that addresses this issue.

Matisse models source code, associated documents, people, and tasks as objects in an information system. Relationships between these objects provide associative information retrieval and navigational support; rules defined on object attributes facilitate team coordination and configuration management.

We describe the design, implementation, and experimental use of Matisse. Matisse represents a novel information management architecture for team programming: It uses database technology for team information management and expert system technology for individual information management; some experimental data on accesses from the individual to the team information space is presented. Three hard scenarios: semiautomatic design history maintenance, dynamic object composition, and adaptive use of existing software, illustrate the power of Matisse, with respect to team programming, over traditional programming environments.