leff@smu.CSNET (Laurence Leff) (04/20/87)
The following abstracts describe Non-Proprietary Technical Reports
available from MCC's Software Technology Program. Please send requests
to the person in the sign off banner.
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SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM
TECHNICAL REPORTS
(Non-Proprietary)
(Updated April 6, 1987)
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TR NUMBER: STP-053-85
DATE ISSUED: July 22, 1985
TITLE: A Distributed Algorithm for N-Party Interactions
AUTHOR(S): Rajive Bagrodia
ABSTRACT: Presents distributed algorithm to implement generalized
alternative construct, which allows a process to select one of
several possible n-party interactions (n-process rendezvous) for
execution.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-113-85
DATE ISSUED: October 18, 1985
TITLE: An introduction to temporal logic and its application
to software systems.
AUTHOR(S):
ABSTRACT: (In preparation; due in 2nd half 1986)
CLASSIFICATION:
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-117-85
DATE ISSUED: October 18, 1985
TITLE: Support for Exploratory Design
AUTHOR(S): Jeff Conklin and Charles Richter
ABSTRACT: Paper presented at 1985 AIAA Computers in Aerospace
Conference and appears in the proceedings of that conference.
A snapshot, taken in August, of an evolving theory of the dimensions
of the design space and the relationships between objects in that
space. While our ideas have changed considerable since this paper
was written, the paper is indicative of the scope of this work.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-125-85 (OUT OF CIRCULATION)
DATE ISSUED: October 30, 1985
TITLE: BiggerTalk: Object-Oriented Prolog
AUTHOR(S): Eric Gullichsen
ABSTRACT: BiggerTalk is a system of Prolog routines which provide
capability for object-oriented programming in Prolog. When compiled
into standard Prolog environment, the Biggertalk system permits
programming in object-oriented style of message passing between
objects, themselves defined as components of a poset (the `inheritance
structure') created through other Biggertalk commands. An exploration
of integration of logic programming and object-oriented computational
metaphors is also conducted.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-053-86
DATE ISSUED: February 25, 1986
TITLE: BiggerTalk* = BiggerTalk + Gordion
AUTHOR(S): Eric Gullichsen
ABSTRACT: BiggerTalk is a system of Prolog routines that provides
a capability for object-oriented programming in Prolog. When
compiled into a standard Prolog environment, the BiggerTalk system
permits programming in the object-oriented style. The aim of
the development of BiggerTalk* was to provide a tool to: (1)
Explore the integration of logic programming and object-oriented
computational metaphors, (2) Experiment with inheritance strategies,
and (3) Act as a local front-end programming environment for Gordion,
the MCC-STP Object Server, a shared persistent repository of objects.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-182-85
DATE ISSUED: February 27, 1986
TITLE: Raddle - An Informal Introduction
AUTHOR(S): Ira R. Forman
ABSTRACT: Raddle is a new model for the design of distributed
systems. The two main (and novel) features of the model are the
synchronization/communication primitive, called interaction, and
the abstraction mechanism, called a team. An interaction is an
N-party synchronization that allows multiway communication among
the parties. The team provides a mechanism for building complex
interactions from primitive interactions.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-078-86
DATE ISSUED: March 10, 1986
TITLE: Design Technology Assessment: Overview
AUTHOR(S): Susan L. Gerhart
ABSTRACT: The purpose and structure of the Software Technology
Program Design Process Group Technology Assessment project are
described.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-107-86
DATE: March 20, 1986
TITLE: Design Technology Assessment: The Statecharts Approach
AUTHOR(S): Glenn R. Bruns, Susan L. Gerhart, Ira Forman, Michael
Graf
ABSTRACT: The technology assessed is "Statecharts", a visual
formalism for presenting and analyzing specifications of reactive
systems. This report provides additional understanding gained
from an intensive two-week study to supplement two attached technical
reports by the originators of the Statecharts methods and technology.
An example, the lift problem, is described in some detail to
illustrate the methods and the lessons learned during the study.
Assessments are made for both the originators' goals and the
goals of STP.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-097-86
DATE: March 31,1986
TITLE: petri - A UNIX Tool for the Analysis of Petri Nets
AUTHOR(S): Ira R. Forman
ABSTRACT: An analyzer of Petri nets is described. Petri nets
are a tool for modeling concurrent systems. The program supports
three forms of analysis: simulation, reachability analysis, and
invariant analysis. The combination of these forms of analysis
yields an engineering tool that should be useful in many software
engineering environments.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-113-86
DATE: April 3, 1986
TITLE: Software Psychology: The Need for an Interdisciplinary
Program
AUTHOR(S): Bill Curtis, Elliott Soloway, Ruven Brooks, John Black,
Kate Ehrlich,
H. Rudy Ramsey
ABSTRACT: This paper was prepared for the National Science Foundation
and has been revised and updated for publication in the Proceedings
of the IEEE. This review focuses on the state of the art in software
psychology - the study of human factors in computer sstems. One
area of software psychology, the psychology of programming, is
picked for an in-depth discussion of research results. The review
then discusses the methodological issues involved in performing
experimental research in software psychology. Future trends are
discussed both for the programming research reviewed here and
for the whole field of software psychology. The conclusions identify
multidisciplinary training and research as critical to further
progress in this field.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-114-86
DATE: April 3, 1986
TITLE: Key Leverage Points in software Productivity and the MCC
Software Techology
Program
AUTHOR(S): Bill Curtis
ABSTRACT: These viewgraphs present the keynote address delivered
by the author at the Second National Conference on Software Productivity
and Quality on March 12, 1986 in Alexandria, VA. This talk provided
a brief review of MCC, discussed some of the productivity and
quality data collected over the last decade from which we have
identified some key leverage points, reviewed the research strategy
we are pursuing in addressing the software productivity and quality
of our shareholders, elaborated on models of software process,
and ended with a call for government procurement officers to keep
abreast of how advances in software technology should influence
their standards and practices.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-068-86
DATE: April 7, 1986
TITLE: Theories of Design: An Introduction to the Literature
AUTHOR(S): Glenn R. Bruns and Susan L. Gerhart
ABSTRACT: The body of general knowledge concerning theories and
methodology of design will be important to STP, in particular
to its Design Process Group, in the development of Leonardo's
design process model. This report surveys theories found in the
worldwide and cross-area design movement and in the computer science
literature in the light of the Leonardo conceptual framework.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-133-86
DATE: April 11, 1986
TITLE: Future Requirements for Testing - Position paper for Workshop
on Software
Testing, Banff, July 1986
AUTHOR(S): Johannes Grande
ABSTRACT: The Software Technology Program (STP) at MCC is developing
and integrating technologies for future design of large, complex
systems. Validation and verification are important aspects of
those technologies and the possible use of current software testing
methods would be desirable. This paper takes a brief look at
the future testing requirement of STP, assesses the suitability
of current methods, and identifies several areas in which testing
technologies and other methods for achieving software quality
might advance to meet the needs of STP.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-141-86
DATE: April 16, 1986
TITLE: What Is Leonardo?
AUTHOR(S): Peter Marks
ABSTRACT: MCC's Software Technology Program (MCC-STP) was created
in 1984 by the participating companies to perform focused research
aimed at achieving enormous iimprovements both in the productivity
of the process of developing large, complex, software-intensive
systems and in the quality of the resulting products. The output
of STP's efforts - Leonardo - is to be a prototype technology
subject to further development by the shareholders. In late 1985
a committee was formed to write a document describing "the dream
of Leonardo". The result was this report, a terse, thought-provoking
discussion of Leonardo's problem domain. A second report {TR#
STP-140-86Q, "The Leonardo Problem Domain"} was created re-stating
the problem domain discussion (Chapters 0-3 only) into an easier-to-read
format.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-168-86
DATE: Mary 21, 1986
TITLE: Reusability Overview
AUTHOR(S): Ted J. Biggerstaff
ABSTRACT: Reusability is a strategy of great promise and it is
one whose promise has been largely unfulfilled. I will try to
explain why I believe that this is true and describe what can
be done to allow reusability to fulfill its promise. In the remaining
sections I will: (1) Describe the problems that stand in the way
of fulfilling the promise, (2) describe and categorize some of
the technologies that can be brought to bear on the reusability
problem, (3) describe some of the dilemmas presented by the reusability
problem, (4) describe the important research issues, and (5) make
some predictions on the evolution of reusability technology.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-172-86
DATE: May 30, 1986
TITLE: Design and Implementation of GORDION, An Object Base Management
System
AUTHOR(S): Aral Ege and Clarence A. Ellis
ABSTRACT: An experimental object base management system called
Gordion is presented. Gordion is a server which provides permanence
and sharing of objects for workstations within an object-oriented
environment. Among the unique aspects of Gordion are: its ability
to communicate with multiple languages, introduction of new concurrency
control primitives, ability to manipulate objects of arbitrary
size, and object sharing across the languages through a base set
of classes. The system is currently interfaced to two languages,
BiggerTalk and Zetalisp Flavors. Beside its language interface,
Gordion has an interface for the system administrator, and an
interface for debugging. A discussion of the future prospects
for Gordion concludes the paper.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-201-86
DATE: June 23, 1986
TR TITLE: PROJECT NICK: Meetings Augmentation and Analysis
AUTHOR(S): Michael Begeman, Peter Cook Clarence Ellis, Mike Graf,
Gail Rein,
Tom Smith
ABSTRACT: This paper describes research work on analysis and
augmentation of design meetings ongoing within the Design Interface
Group of the Software Technology Program at MCC. The paper presents
a model of meeting progression which serves as a framework for
our research. Primary topics covered in the paper are meetings
analysis, where measures of quantities such as meeting effectiveness
are considered, and meetings augmentation, where facilities and
techniques for capture and presentation of meeting information
are considered.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprieitary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-197-86
DATE: June 25, 1986
TR TITLE: Research Problems in Automating the Reuse of Designs
AUTHOR(S): Ted J. Biggerstaff
ABSTRACT: This talk uses an Object Oriented model to discuss
the problem of reusing designs. The Object Oriented model has
a number of appealing characteristics (e.g., encapsulation of
information, inheritance and so forth) and works reasonably well
for reusing code. In trying to adapt the Object Oriented model
to the reuse of designs, we run into some problems. We will characterize
these problems and speculate about how we might change the model
in order to adapt it to the reuse of designs. We conclude that
these problems are not central to the Object Oriented aspect of
the model, but rather are a result of representations that are
more suited to coding and speculation than to designing.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-202-86
DATE: June 27, 1986
TR TITLE: Skills versus Knowledge in Software Engineering Education:
A Retrospective on the Wang Institute MSE Program
AUTHOR(S): Susan L. Gerhart
ABSTRACT: This report contains a paper submitted to a workshop
Software Engineering Education - 1986: The Educational Needs
of the Software Community sponsored by the Carnegie-Mellon University
Software Engineering Institute Education Division, Pittsburgh,
Pa. February 27-28, 1986. Proceedings of the workshop will be
published in late 1986 by Springer-Verlag. The audience for this
report is members of STP shareholder companies with an interest
in internal industrial or external traditional education of high-quality
industrial software engineers. A preface summarizes the Workshop
context and directions towards the development of a software engineering
curriculum.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: NONE
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TR NUMBER: STP-229-86
DATE: July 22, 1986
TR TITLE: Requirements for Environments for Analysts
AUTHOR(S): Susan L. Gerhart
ABSTRACT: Most programming environments have several kinds of
users. These users often play several roles in the content of
software development. This paper looks at the requirements for
one such role - the ANALYST - whose job is to perform detailed
technical analyses and to produce reports and recommendations
for other designers and developers. The role of analyst specialists
is characterized, providing a context for team work in software
design and development. Three existing environments for analysts
are summarized and generalized to derive requirements for support
from programming environments. The paper's primary purpose is
to follow a systematic approach for support from programming environments.
The paper's primary purpose is to follow a systematic approach
to reach requirements for supporting the analysts role.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-266-86
DATE: August 5, 1986
TR TITLE: Design Issues for Window Managers
AUTHOR(S): James L. Peterson
ABSTRACT: Window managers are becoming an important new part
of modern computer systems. A window manager allocates screen
space to several different output sources, either from a single
application or from multiple processes to share a single display,
or set of displays. Window manager clients create windows to
display their output. Windows are virtual or logical terminals
which are mapped by the window manager onto the physical displays.
Windows can be created, moved, resized, and deleted. Window
systems can be tiled or overlapped. Control over the windows
can be internal or external. Either bit-mapped or character-oriented
displays may be used. Often a keyboard and mouse (or other pointing
device) is also required.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-284-86
DATE: August 20, 1986
TR TITLE: A Software Metrics Survey
AUTHOR(S): S.D. Conte, Purdue University; H.E. Dunsmore,
Purdue University
V.Y. Shen, MCC; W.M. Zage, Purdue University
ABSTRACT: This paper was adapted from the book Software Engineering
Metrics and Models, Benjamin Cummings Publishing Company (1986),
by S.D. Conte, H.E. Dunsmore, and V.Y. Shen.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-286-86
DATE: August 21, 1986
TR TITLE: Future Technologies for Design of Complex Systems
AUTHOR(S): Johannes Grande
ABSTRACT: Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation
(MCC) is performing research aimed at improving the process of
developing complex, software intensive systems. This research
focuses on the up-stream design activities, the process of team
design, and the technologies for design representation and design
visualization.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-296-86
DATE: September 8, 1986
TR TITLE: Technology Assessment: PAISley
AUTHOR(S): Glenn R. Bruns
ABSTRACT: The technology assessed is "PAISley", an executable
specification language intended to be well suited to real-time
and distributed systems. This report provides an overview and
assessment of the PAISley language, tools, and method. The assessments
are made for both the originators' goals and the goals of STP.
Additionally, two PAISley elevator system specifications are
shown, described, and compared.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-345-86
DATE: October 15, 1986
TR TITLE: Reusability Framework, Assessment, and Directions
AUTHOR(S): T. Biggerstaff and C. Richter
ABSTRACT: Reusability is widely believed to be a key to improving
software development productivity and quality. The reuse of software
components "amplifies" the software developer's capabilities.
It allows him or her to write fewer total symbols in the development
of a system, and allows him or her to spend less time in the process
of organizing those symbols. However, while reusability is a
strategy of great promise, it is one whose promise has been largely
unfulfilled. We will try to explain why we believe that this
is true and describe what can be done to allow reusability to
fulfill its promise. This paper is intended to provide a short
overview of the reuse of software and then assess the current
state of reusability technology.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-361-86
DATE: October 28, 1986
TR TITLE: Design Representation Technology: A Survey
AUTHOR(S): Dallas Webster
ABSTRACT: This report presents a broad, qualitative survey of
design representation technologies. Representation of software
design information, along with the associated representational
requirements, is stressed. Most notably, a preliminary or working
"technology map" is exhibited, illustrating relationships among
a broad range of current and developing technologies and providing
a context for continued research in design representation. Limitations
of the representation mechanisms of conventional software development
technologies are pointed out, and several alternatives that are
under investigation and development at STP are described.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-369-86
DATE: November 5, 1986
TR TITLE: Technology Assessment: Gist
AUTHOR(S): G. Bruns, D. Bridgeland, D. Webster
ABSTRACT: Gist is an operational specification language developed
by Bob Balzer and others at USCs Information Sciences Institute.
It is a rich language that uses multiple paradigms including
object-oriented, rule-based, logic-based, and constraint-based.
The purpose of having multiple paradigms is to allow a high degree
of expressiveness. We found Gist to be difficult to understand
from published papers and a two-day training session, but interesting
enough to warrant further investigation. This preliminary report
describes Gist and evaluates the language, technology, and method.
Two appendices assess Gist as a knowledge representation language.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-440-86
DATE: December 23, 1986
TR TITLE: The Application of KL-ONE to Software Design Information:
A Case Study
AUTHOR(S): Charles Richter
ABSTRACT: One of the goals of the Design Information Group is
to develop a "theory" of the information space. As a first step
toward that goal, we are evaluating the applicability of selected
knowledge representation schemes to the domain of software design
information. In this paper we evaluate KL-ONE [2] as a foundation
for a particular application, an issue manager.
This paper is divided into four major sections. In section 1
we discuss the purpose and limits of the evaluation. We also
outline our reasons for choosing KL-ONE. Section 2 summarizes
the features of KL-ONE. In section 3, we apply KL-ONE on an issue
manager. We first describe what tasks an issue manager might
perform; we then represent certain issue-oriented information
in KL-ONE and discuss how the issue manager could be built on
top of such a knowledge base. Section 4 lists our conclusions
and future directions.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-236-86
DATE: July 25, 1986 (printed in Jan., 1987)
TR TITLE: A Theory and Tool for Coordination
AUTHOR(S): Jeff Conklin
ABSTRACT: Teamwork depends heavily on successful communication
and coordination. This paper describes research which combines
work on Issue Based Information Systems, conversational protocols,
hypertext, and a preliminary theory on the internal structure
of design decisions (ISAACs). A tool is proposed which allows
designers to capture and structure their own deliberations about
design decisions in a way that (1) makes this deliberative process
directly communicable to the designer's teammates, and (2) supports
the uncertain and exploratory of early design conversations.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-365-86
DATE: January 8, 1987
TR TITLE: System Development as a Performing Art - A People-Centered
View of Leonardo
AUTHOR(S): Peter Marks
ABSTRACT: This report explores a view of system development,
drawn by analogy to performing arts like theater and competitive
sports, as an ongoing progression of Practice-Performance-Postmortem
cycles. These stages are defined with regard to their treatment
of errors, and the roles of Performer, Audience, and Coach. Potential
impact of this model on STP's part in "building Leonardo" is suggested.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-098-86, Revision 1.0
DATE: January 26, 1987
TR TITLE: On the Design of Large Distributed Systems
AUTHOR(S): Ira R. Forman
ABSTRACT: Higher level abstractions are needed for the design
of distributed systems. Such an abstraction is the N-party interaction,
which is the synchronous state change of N processes. It is proposed
that this be used as the main primitive for the design of distributed
systems. A language called Raddle is described that supports
the N-party interaction as its synchronization and communication
primitive. A problem is solved in which it is shown how this
language can be used to develop a distributed system by refinement
of interactions.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: Rev. 1.0
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TR NUMBER: STP-026-87
DATE: January 27, 1987
TR TITLE: PARIS: A System for Reusing Partially Interpreted
Schemas
AUTHOR(S): Shmuel Katz, Charles Richter, and Khe-Sing The
ABSTRACT: This paper describes PARIS, an implemented system
that facilitates the reuse of partially interpreted schemas.
A schema is a program and specification with abstract, or uninterpreted,
entities. Different interpretations of those entities will produce
different programs. The PARIS system maintains a library of such
schemas and provides an interactive mechanism to interpret a schema
into a useful program by means of partially automated matching
and verification procedures. Key words and phrases: partially
interpreted schemas, reusability, abstract programs, specification
and verification, distributed programming, matching problems to
specifications, applying automatic theorem proving.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: HI-400-86*
DATE: December 1986 (printed and distributed in February, 1987)
TR TITLE: From Modern Alchemy to a New Renaissance
AUTHOR(S): Kim Fairchild, Human Interface Program and
Eric Gullichsen, Software Program
ABSTRACT: Western society today stands at a turning point, largely
unaware that it is poised on the brink of a new revolution in:
computing power including the technology of hardware capable
of providing affordable computer power for all and software to
provide: flexible dynamic hypermedia, and techniques based on
object-orientation to manage the complexity and volume of data
required to support multiple layers of abstractions; participant
systems which permit group collaboration on large-scale problems;
and electronic communication capabilities which both support participant
systems and can supplant traditional paper and telephone-based
media to effect radical changes in our society. Synergy of the
three areas of new improvements leads to the possibility of construction
of elaborate Artificial Realities. Combined with electronic interpersonal
communication, these have the potential to generate change in
individual consciousness and social structure.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
* ? Jointly developed by STP & Human Interface Program; in Feb.
87, Mr. Fairchild joined STP.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - -
TR NUMBER: STP-039-87
DATE: January 30, 1987
TR TITLE: Information Management Challenges in the Software Design
Process
AUTHOR(S): T. Biggerstaff, C. Ellis, F. Halasz, C. Kellogg,
C. Richter, D. Webster
ABSTRACT: The upstream software design process challenges database
technology via its requirements for effective handling of diverse
data -- both unstructured and structured, fuzzy and concrete,
incomplete and fully specified. Informal and formal, complex
and primitive. Commercial databases provide robust commercial
products that deal well with the "easy" (complete, regular, precise,
formal, consistent) problems. Data, knowledge and information
based technologies must be developed further and merged to deal
with the "hard" ones.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - -
TR NUMBER: STP-356-86, Rev. 1
DATE: February 9, 1987
TR TITLE: A Survey of Hypertext
AUTHOR(S): Jeff Conklin
ABSTRACT: Hypertext is a computer-supported medium for information
in which many interlinked documents are displayed with their links
on a high-resolution computer screen. The links may be directly
activated by a pointing device such as a mouse, which causes the
document referenced by the link to appear instantly in a new window
on the screen. While the concepts of hypertext are not new, the
technology to make it effective is new. This paper reviews most
of the existing hypertext systems, and then explores in some detail
the fundamental features of hypertext and some of the design options
in constructing hypertext systems. The advantages and disadvantages
of hypertext are discussed in terms of four major application
categories: macro literary systems, problem exploration systems,
and structured browsing systems, and systems developed to explore
hypertext technology.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: Rev. 1
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - -
TR NUMBER: STP-070-87
DATE: February 24, 1987
TR TITLE: Highlights of the MCC Software Technology Program (Charts
+ Video)
AUTHOR(S): Ted Biggerstaff
ABSTRACT: This is a chart plus video presentation of some current
activities in the Software Technology Program (STP). The viewgraphs
contain an overview of STP and introductions to PlaneText, a hypertext
system; IDeA, a design reuse system; and VERDI, a visual environment
for the design of distributed systems. The videotape consists
of short demonstrations of PlaneText, IDeA, and VERDI.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - -
TR NUMBER: STP-072-87
DATE: February 25, 1987
TR TITLE: A Study of the Relation Between Coordination Primitives
of Raddle
and other Languages
AUTHOR(S): Devendra Kumar
ABSTRACT: This report presents a comparison between the coordination
primitives of Raddle and those of the following languages: ADA,
SR, Cell, Modula-2, and ARGUS. The purpose of the study is to
gain insight into the relation of other paradigms of coordination
and insight into how Raddle designs may be implemented.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - -
TR NUMBER: STP-086-87
DATE: March 13, 1987
TR TITLE: SMDC: An Interactive Software Metrics Data Collection
and Analysis System
AUTHOR(S): T. J. Yu, AT&T Bell Laboratories, B. A. Nejmeh,
AT&T Bell Laboratories, H.E. Dunsmore, Purdue University, V.Y.
Shen, MCC
ABSTRACT: This paper presents the data and capabilities provided
by the Software Metrics Data Collection (SMDC) system. SMDC is
an APL-based system which runs on the UNIX 4.3BSD system at Purdue
University. The data stored in SMDC was collected from hundreds
of (1) software products developed at industrial environments
and (2) experiments conducted at Purdue University. The largest
software product in SMDC has more than 1,000,000 lines of code.
SMDC also provides a number of statistical functions and plotting
routines which can be used for detailed analysis of existing data.
The data and tools in SMDC are available for use by non-Purdue
researchers with some limitations. This paper has been submitted
to the Journal of Systems and Software for publication.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
TR NUMBER: STP-087-87
DATE: March 13, 1987
TR TITLE: An Analysis of Several Software Defect Models
AUTHOR(S): Tie-Jie Yu, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Hubert E.
Dunsmore, Purdue University
ABSTRACT: This paper presents the results of analyzing several
defect models using data collected from two large commercial projects.
Traditional models typically use either program metrics (i.e.,
measurements from software products) or testing time or combinations
of these as independent variables. The limitations of such models
have been well documented. The models considered in this paper
all use the number of defects detected in the earlier phase of
the development process as the independent variable. We have
found a very strong correlation between the number of earlier
defects and that of later ones. Using this relationship, we constructed
a mathematical model which may be used to estimate the number
of defects remaining in software. This paper has been accepted
for publication in IEEE Trans. on Software Engineering. The publication
data is currently not known.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
ADDENDUM
#####################################################
#####################################################
The reports listed below are NOT the property of MCC. They are
supplemental material to other STP Technical Reports (as noted)
and are made available to STP Participants with the express permission
of the authors.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TR NUMBER: None (Reference STP-114-85)
DATE ISSUED: October 18, 1985
TITLE: Partially Interpreted Schemas for CSP Programming
AUTHOR(S): Orit Baruch and Shmuel Katz
ABSTRACT: Partially interpreted program schemata are suggested
as a tool for formally specifying and defining the range of applicability
of patterns of communication. The schemata syntactically resemble
programs, but contain free variables which represent uninterpreted
program sections, domains, functions, or other aspects of the
program. The specification of the schema includes both applicability
requirements and result assertions, as well as specifications
for the free variables.
NOTE: This paper is not the property of the MCC Software Technology
Program. It is being distributed as background for STP-114-85
through the expressed permission of the authors.
CLASSIFICATION: None
REVISIONS: None
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
TR NUMBER: None (Reference STP-107-86)
DATE ISSUED: January 1985
TITLE: On the Development of Reactive Systems
AUTHOR(S): D. Harel and A. Pneuli
ABSTRACT: Some observations are made concerning the process of
developing complex systems. A broad class of systems, termed
reactive, is singled out as being particularly problematic when
it comes to finding satisfactory methods for behavioral description.
In this paper we recommend the recently proposed statechart method
for this purpose.
NOTE: This paper is not the property of the MCC Software Technology
Program. It is being distributed as background for STP-107-86
through the expressed permission of the authors.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - -
ADDENDUM (Cont'd)
TR NUMBER: None (Reference STP-107-86)
DATE: February 1986
TITLE: Statecharts: A Visual Approach to Complex Systems
AUTHOR(S): David Harel
ABSTRACT: We present a broad extension of the conventional formalism
of state machines and state diagrams, that is relevant to the
design, specification, documentation and maintenance of a complex
discrete-event entity, such as a large multi-computer real-time
system. Our diagrams, which we call statecharts, are intended
to capture the dynamic behavioral aspects of a system, rather
than its physical or functional ones, in a clear, flexible and
concise manner. Statecharts can be used either as a stand-alone
behavioral description or as part of a more general design methodology
that deals also with the system's other aspects.
NOTE: This paper is not the property of the MCC Software Technology
Program. It is being distributed as background for STP-107-86
through the expressed permission of the authors.
CLASSIFICATION: Non-Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - -
########################################################################### END
of ABSTRACT LISTING
###########################################################################
--
James D. Babcock @ MCC
Software Technology Program
P.O. Box 200195
9390 Research Blvd. Austin, Tx. 78720
512/338-3489
uucp: {seismo,harvard,gatech,pyramid}!ut-sally!im4u!milano!babcock
arpa: babcock@mcc.com
leff@smu.UUCP (Laurence Leff) (01/20/89)
The following abstracts describe Non-Proprietary Technical Reports available
from MCC's Software Technology Program. Please send requests for SINGLE
copies to the person below. INCLUDE your U.S. MAIl address since copies
cannot be electronically distributed.
Jim Babcock
<babcock@mcc.com>
######################################################################
STP Technical Reports
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
NON - PROPRIETARY ABSTRACTS for TRs ISSUED
Mid-1987 Thru NOVEMBER 1988
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-132-87
Date : May 01, 1987
Author : B.Curtis
# pages : 23
Title : Five Paradigms in the Psychology of Programming
Abstract: This is a review chapter prepared for the Handbook of Human-Computer
Interaction to be published by North-Holland in 1987. -- Since the
1950s, psychologists have studied the behavioral aspects of computer
programming. However, it has been difficult to integrate their data
with theory because of the mixture of psychological paradigms that
have guided their research. This chapter will review the research
results that have been generated under the five psychological
paradigms used most often in exploring programming problems. These
five paradigms are 1) individual differences, 2) group behavior, 3)
organizational behavior, 4) human factors/cognitive ergonomics, and
5) cognitive science. The major theoretical and practical
contributions of each area to the theory and practice of software
engineering will be discussed. Based on current trends, it appears
that research guided by the paradigm of cognitive science will be the
easiest to integrate with new developments in artificial intelligence
and computer science theory.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-257-87
Date : February 24, 1988
Author : D.Volpano
# pages : 24
Title : STS - Software Templates System
Abstract: The Software Templates System (STS) is described. STS is a collection
of tools that permits you to build abstract specifications of
algorithms called software templates and instantiate them for use in
many different applications. This document is intended to serve as a
description as well as a manual for users of STS. A portion of STS is
bootstrapped using STS itself. This bootstrapping process is used to
illustrate the features of STS.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-299-87
Date : September 24, 1987
Author : B.Curtis
# pages : 13
Title : Cognitive Issues in Reusing Software Artifacts
Abstract: This paper reviews the cognitive aspects of reusing the artifacts of
computer programming. This paper will first review how programming
knowledge is organized and used. It will then discuss how
professionals design programs and where the information they use
comes from. It will end by describing the requirements for
reusability tools generated by a cognitive analysis of programming.
The thesis is that programmers' primary source of information during
programming is their store of problem specific design schema, and
that a body of reusable artifacts must provide links into these
schema in order for programmers to be able to search and retrieve
information effectively from a store external to their own memory.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-304-87
Date : November 04, 1987
Author : C.Potts;G.Bruns
# pages : 25
Title : Recording the Reasons for Design Decisions
Abstract: We outline a generic model for representing design deliberat ion and
its relation to the generation of method-specific artifacts. A design
history is regarded as a network consisting of artifacts and
deliberation nodes. Artifacts include specifications or design
documents. Deliberation nodes represent issues, alternatives or
justifications. Existing artifacts give rise to issues about the
evolving design, an alternative is one of several positions that
respond to the issue (perhaps calling for the creation or
modification of an artifact), and a justification is a statement
giving the reasons for and against selecting the related alternative.
The model is applied to the development of a text formatter. The
example necessitates some tailoring of the generic model to the
method adopted in the development, Liskov and Guttag's design method.
We discuss the experiment and the method-specific extensions. The
example development has been represented in hypertext and as a Prolog
database, the two representations being shown to complement each
other. We conclude with a discussion of the relation to this model
with other work, and its implications for tool support and methods.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-316-87
Date : November 10, 1987
Author : P.Cook
# pages : 20
Title : The Role of Champions in Successful Computer Applications
Abstract: A structure to understand the reasons for computer success or failure
is reported. It is represented as a matrix, where the rows relate to
the elements of a successful application, and the columns are derived
from diffusion theory as it relates to technology transfer.
Vertically listed is the result of a number of years of
implementation efforts and observation of the efforts of others. It
asserts that to be successful, a computer application must have: A
real need, Good hardware, Adequate software, A receptive environment,
and A champion. The column structure is derived from diffusion
theory, particularly the work of Everett Rogers. It categorizes user
environments into four categories: Innovator, Early adopter,
Majority, and Late Adopter. Observations are made about each of the
cells of the resulting matrix.
_________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-320-87
Date : November 20, 1987
Author : F.Halasz
# pages : 22
Title : Reflections on Notecards: Seven Issues for the Next Generation of
Hypermedia Systems
Abstract: NoteCards is a general hypermedia environment designed to help people
work with ideas. Its intended users are authors, designers, and other
intellectual laborers engaged in analyzing information, designing
artifacts, and generally processing ideas. The system provides these
users with a variety of hypermedia-based tools for collecting,
representing, managing, interrelating, and communicating ideas. This
paper presents the NoteCards systems as a foil against which to
explore some of the major limitations of the current generation of
hypermedia systems. These seven issues are: search and query,
composite nodes, virtual structures, computational engines,
versioning, collaborative work, and tailorability. For each of these
issues, the papers describes the limitations inherent in NoteCards
and the prospects for doing improving the situation in future systems.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-340-87
Date : March 25, 1988
Author : P.Attie
# pages : 61
Title : A Guide to Raddle87 Semantics
Abstract: Defines the Raddle87 design language. Describes syntax and an
operational semantics.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-353-87
Date : November 06, 1987
Author : X.Liangfang;K.Fairchild
# pages : 7
Title : Harnessing the Computer Revolution to Further Modernization in China
Abstract: The People's Republic of China has a commitment to develop expertise
and sweeping changes in science and technology. This paper describes
many of the authors' observations about China's growing computer
technology abilities. First, we discuss the problems and existing
capabilities that influence China's entry into the computer
revolution. Then we discuss several of the recent success stories and
we close with suggestions about two new research areas that might be
particularly useful to further computer modernization.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-362-87
Date : October 19, 1987
Author : B.Curtis
# pages : 41
Title : The Tarpit and a Rope: A Presentation to Aetna on STP
Abstract: These viewgraphs constitute the presentation made by the author to
the Aetna's Information Systems Executives Conference on October 19,
1987. The presentation started with a description of systems
development problems observed in the STP Field Study and then
described how the research program of STP is developing technology to
reduce or eliminate some of these problems.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-365-86
Date : January 08, 1987
Author : P.Marks
# pages : 19
Title : System Development as a Performing Art
Abstract: This report explores a view of system development, drawn by analogy
to performing arts like theater and competitive sports, as an ongoing
progression of Practice-Performance-Postmortem cycles. These stages
are defined with regard to their treatment of errors, and the roles
of Performer, Audience, and Coach. Potential impact of this model on
STP's part in building Leonardo" is suggested.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-368-87
Date : November 20, 1987
Author : F.Halasz
# pages : 22
Title : Reflections on the State of the Art: Seven Issues for the Next
Generaton of Hypermedia Systems
Abstract: These slides briefly review the state of the art in workstation-based
hypermedia systems (e.g., NoteCards, Neptune, and Intermedia). Seven
major issues for the next generation of hypermedia systems are then
presented and briefly discussed. These slides accompany the paper
contained in MCC Technical Report STP-320-87. These slides were
presented at Hypertext '87, Chapel Hill, NC, November, 1987.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-375-87
Date : December 17, 1987
Author : I.Baxter
# pages : 53
Title : PCL: A Production Control Language (A Proposal)
Abstract: A program development [Wile83a] or metaprogram ([Feather86a]) is a
description of the steps necessary to convert a specification into an
implementation using a transformation system (we prefer the term
metaprogram). PCL is a metaprogramming language intended as part of
an Implementation Maintenance System, a software package whose goal
is the efficient re-derivation of transformationa l implementations
given a change to a specification. This document specifies PCL.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-383-87
Date : December 31, 1987
Author : L.Power
# pages : 10
Title : OOPSLA'87 Panel Discussion: Object-Oriented Concurrency conference
held at OOSPLA'87.
Abstract: This report covers the panel discussion on object-oriented
concurrency held at OOPSLA '87, the ACM-sponsored object-oriented
programming conference, held in Orlando, Florida, October, 1987. The
panelists were Barbara Liskov, Akinori Yonezawa, David A. Thomas, and
Carl Hewitt. In addition to a summarizing the panelists' comments and
questions from the floor, the author has included background material
on the panelists' object models. Characterizing these as variations
on active objects", the author identifies important issues and
trade-offs for future research.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-386-87
Date : March 24, 1988
Author : V.Shen
# pages : 62
Title : Using Superimposition to Add Fault to an EFT System
Abstract: Describes the application of a new control construct, the
superimposition, to the design of a distributed system expressed in
Raddle.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-016-88
Date : January 12, 1988
Author : J.Conklin;M.Begeman
# pages : 6
Title : gIBIS: A Hypertext Tool for Team Design Deliberation
Abstract: This paper describes an application specific hypertext system
designed to facilitate the capture of early design deliberations. It
implements a specific method, called Issue Based Information Systems
(IBIS), which has been developed for use on large, complex design
problems. The hypertext system described here, gIBIS (for graphical
IBIS), makes use of color and a high speed relational database server
to facilitate building and browsing typed IBIS networks. Further,
gIBIS is designed to support the collaborative construction of these
networks by any number of cooperating team members spread across a
local area network. Early experiments suggest that the IBIS method is
still incomplete, but there is a good match between the tool and
method even in this experimental version.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-018-88
Date : April 08, 1988
Author : G.Rein;C.Ellis
# pages : 36
Title : The Nick Summer Experiment: A Field Study on the Usage of Meeting
Support Technology by Software Design Teams
Abstract: Presents the study, results and interpretations of this
experimentation to explore and increase the understanding of the use
of the prototype Nick electronic meeting room by software design
teams working on fuzzy, high-level design problems.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-025-88
Date : January 19, 1988
Author : M.Lubars
# pages : 10
Title : Code Reusability in the Large Versus Code Reusability in the Small
Abstract: As a general rule, the goals of software engineering involve the
development of techniques for improving software development
productivity. It is no surprise, then, that a lot of attention has
been focused on facilitating the reuse of program code. However, much
of this attention has been directed with only shortsighted and
self-supporting goals, and has thus condemned code reuse techniques
to limited areas of success. This paper brings to light some of the
issues involving code reusability and contrasts the two ends of the
reusability spectrum; code reusability in the large" and code
reusabilaity in the small". Methods for possibly improving code
reusability are examined.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-048-88
Date : March 03, 1988
Author : P.Cook;C.Ellis;G.Rein
# pages : 20
Title : Meetings Research - A Nick Retrospective
Abstract: Overview of research work performed by the Nick project team since
its inception in late 1985. States the motivation and scope of the
research followed by an explanation of the modeling work, systems
building work and experimentation work.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-042-88
Date : February 08, 1988
Author : S.Gibbs
# pages : 9
Title : LIZA: An Extensible Groupware Toolkit
Abstract: Software for supporting groups of collaborating users - groupware -
raises a number of problems in such areas as communication,
distribution, concurrency control and user interface design. This
paper gives a definition of groupware and presents a high-level model
of groupware systems. The model has been applied to the design and
implementation of an extensible groupware toolkit known as LIZA in
terms of their user interface and functionality.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-047-88
Date : February 16, 1988
Author : C.Ellis;G.Rein;S.Jarvenpaa
# pages : 15
Title : Nick Experimentation: Some Selected Results
Abstract: Presents the study, results and interpretations of this
experimentation to explore and increase the understanding of the use
of the prototype Nick electronic meeting room by software design
reams working on fuzzy, high-level design problems.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-058-88
Date : February 10, 1988
Author : M.Lubars;M.Harandi
# pages : 31
Title : Addressing Software Reuse Through Knowledge-Based Design
Abstract: The reuse of available software components is one important method
for improving the productivity of new software product development.
Software reuse benefits are especially apparent during specification
and design where the foundations are established for the development
and maintenance of the software product. Effective reuse of software
designs requires a collection of good design components, knowledge
about how to locate the components, and strategies for combining and
customizing them into new designs. Schemes are also required for
representing and manipulating reusable software components and
various types of rules and heuristics for design construction. This
paper presents both the philosophical and practical aspects of a
knowledge-based design environment, called IDeA.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-061-88
Date : February 24, 1988
Author : D.Volpano
# pages : 9
Title : The Templates Approach to Software Reuse
Abstract: Programs written in conventional, imperative languages usually cannot
be reused in other applications because commitments have been made to
specific types and representations of data. A software template is an
algorithm specification that is free of these kinds of commitments. A
template is expressed in a typed, functional notation. As a separate
programming activity, abstract types are implemented in an imperative
language. Templates for standard algorithms, and implementations of
commonly-used data types are catalogued for reuse. A programmer
chooses implementations for a template's data types at which time the
template is translated into a program tailored to the chosen
implementations.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-081-88
Date : April 08, 1988
Author : R.Miller
# pages : 26
Title : Representing Communication Protocols
Abstract: Aims at showing how some of the ways of representing protocols can be
directly converted into Raddle representations.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-082-88
Date : March 09, 1988
Author : J.Conklin;M.Begeman
# pages : 23
Title : gIBIS: A Hypertext Tool for Exploratory Policy Discussion
Abstract: This paper describes an application specific hypertext system
designed to facilitate the capture of early design deliberations. It
implements a specific method, called Issue Based Information Systems
(IBIS), which has been developed for use on large, complex design
problems. The hypertext system described here, gIBIS (for graphical
IBIS), makes use of color and a high speed relational database server
to facilitate building and browsing typed IBIS networks. Further,
gIBIS is designed to support the collaborative construction of these
networks by any number of cooperating team members spread across a
local area network. Early experiments suggest that the IBIS method is
still incomplete, but there is a good match between the tool and
method even in this experimental version.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-088-88
Date : March 11, 1988
Author : T.Biggerstaff
# pages : 12
Title : The Ada Reuse Picture: What is Wrong with this Picture?
Abstract: This presentation argues that the reuse oriented structure provided
by Ada, or any programming language for that matter, are insufficient
to produce payoffs that approach an order of magnitude and in fact,
will tend to be in the range of 20% to 30% at absolute best. Further,
such reuse improvements derived through reuse of program language
code are a part of, not in addition to, other improvements derived by
modern programming practices. To gain larger improvements, it is
argued one must reuse design abstractions and this will require the
development of an environment infrastructure for dealing with such
constructs. Thus, the reuse (design/maintenance) problem is not a
language problem, but an environment problem.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-187-88
Date : July 18, 1988
Author : R.Miller;I.Forman
# pages : 6
Title : The Readers-Writers Problem Using Interactions
Abstract: Short technical note to record an interesting problem in the
expressive power of Raddle.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-120-88
Date : April 29, 1988
Author : M.Lubars
# pages : 6
Title : Environmental Support for Reuse
Abstract: Discusses reuse methods which should be embedded with CASE tools and
environments as an integral part of the methodology, rather than
treated as a separate problem.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-122-88
Date : April 12, 1988
Author : G.Bruns
# pages : 12
Title : Germ: A Metasystem for Browsing and Editing
Abstract: Focuses on the modeling primitives underlying a Germ schema and how
they relate to the features of browsing and editing tools.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-182-88
Date : June 18, 1988
Author : V.Shen
# pages : 64
Title : Problem-Driven Software Engineering Research
Abstract: Contains the charts presented at a workshop in Taipei, July 18-22,
1988.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-155-88
Date : May 18, 1988
Author : S.Gerhart
# pages : 25
Title : A Broad Spectrum Toolset for Upstream Testing, Verification, and
Analysis
Abstract: Describes a suite of tools to analyze properties of sequences
associated with a specification, with input or output to a program,
or with simple behavioral models of a system under design.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-186-88
Date : June 10, 1988
Author : G.Bruns;C.Potts
# pages : 36
Title : Domain Modeling Approaches to Software Development
Abstract: Reviews and discusses a representative sample of software design
approaches that contain a domain modeling component.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-195-88
Date : June 20, 1988
Author : S.Gibbs;C.Ellis
# pages : 12
Title : Action Objects: Realities and Possibilities
Abstract: Defines and explains the concept of active object. Presents and
justifies examples of active objects.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-206-88
Date : July 21, 1988
Author : E.Gullichsen;D.D'Souza;P.Lincoln;K.The
# pages : 44
Title : The PlaneTextBook
Abstract: Describes PlaneText as a hypertext system written in C to run under
the SunView window manager on a SUN workstation. Users can create and
share a general graph structure of nodes.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-214-88
Date : July 07, 1988
Author : R.Guindon
# pages : 15
Title : Software Design Tasks as Ill-Structured Problems, Software Design as
an Opportunistic Process
Abstract: Reviews the main cognitive studies of software design and their
findings contrasted to informal observations by practitioners and
researchers in software development.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-236-88
Date : July 22, 1988
Author : P.Attie
# pages : 13
Title : The Generation of ADA Code from RADDLE/VERDI Designs
Abstract: Addresses the problem that, given a suitably low level VERDI design,
what the problems involved in generating ADA code from this design.
Discusses the problems, presents suggestions for solutions and gives
an example of VERDI to ADA translation.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-250-88
Date : August 02, 1988
Author : M.Evangelist;I.Forman;G.Bruns
# pages : 26
Title : Tebasco: A Team-Based Coordination System
Abstract: Proposes on how such a system should operate.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-263-88
Date : September 14, 1988
Author : C.ElLIS;S.Gibbs;G.Rein
# pages : 12
Title : Design and Use of a Group Editor
Abstract: GROVE is a prototype outline editor specifically designed for use by
a group of people working simultaneously on the same text outline. It
has been used in work sessions by several groups ranging in size from
two to six people, in both face-to-face and distributed modes, for a
variety of design tasks. This paper describes the function of GROVE
and presents some of the important observations from these work
sessions.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-256-88
Date : September 07, 1988
Author : M.Lubars;M.Harandi
# pages : 7
Title : The Knowledge-Based Refinement Paradigm and IDeA: Concepts,
Limitations, and Future Directions
Abstract: The knowledge-based refinement paradigm of software development is a
paradigm that views the software development process as a succession
of knowledge-based refinements to an initial model of a desired
system. IDeA (Intelligent Design Aid) was developed as a prototypical
design environment to support the knowledge-based refinement
paradigm. This paper outlines the knowledge-based refinement
paradigm, capabilities of IDeA, and evaluates IDeA's effectiveness in
supporting the paradigm. Suggestions are made for improving the
paradigm and for constructing future supporting environments.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-270-87
Date : September 13, 1988
Author : I.Forman
# pages : 16
Title : Leader Election: An Exercise in Raddle Design
Abstract: This report presents three Raddle solutions to the Leader Election
Problem. The solutions demonstrate three strengths of Raddle: (1) The
use of the N-party interaction to express algorithms that are
independent of architectural and optimization considerations. In this
way Raddle supports the extreme upstream phase of the design process
in that designers can express concepts that were previously
unexpressible in any design notations for distributed systems. (2)
The decomposition of N-party interactions to achieve optimization and
customization to specific architectures. This supports the designer
in his second problem: how the performance requirements can be
achieved. (3) The composition of library teams to obtain a desired
team. This supports designers in their quest to reuse designs.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-033-88
Date : January 27, 1988
Author : C.Ellis;S.Gibbs;G.Rein
# pages : 23
Title : The Groupware Project: An Overview
Abstract: This paper is an overview of the groupware project, a
computer-supported collaborative work research project at MCC in the
Software Technology Program. We present the goals of the groupware
project and the design philosophy of our prototype systems. The paper
is organized into three sections: The Early Work, the Current Work,
and the Future Vision. Highlights of the past work on Project Nick
are presented, including a description of the electronic meeting room
(hardware and software) and a summary of the key findings from an
extensive empirical study conducted at STP during the summer of 1987.
Other early groupware systems (HyperMate and LIZA) are briefly
described. Then we describe our current activity to build a group
outlining tool (grove), and conclude with a description of our long
term vision.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-289-88
Date : September 09, 1988
Author : T.Biggerstaff
# pages : 6
Title : The Nature of Semi-Formal Information in Domain Models
Abstract: This position paper describes the nature and importance of informal
and semi-formal information in the understanding, interpretation and
reuse of large complex programs. The understanding of large, complex,
existing programs is sometimes called the "dusty deck" problem. The
emphasis of this research is on how one might create a model of a
domain that would help in the job of understanding and eventually
reusing large scale designs from large, complex and generally
unmastered existing programs. The role of informal and semi-formal
information is central to this domain model.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-233-88
Date : August 01, 1988
Author : B.Curtis;H.Krasner;N.Iscoe
# pages : 30
Title : A Field Study of the Software Design Process
Abstract: We studied the major problems experienced in designing large software
systems by interviewing personnel from 17 large projects. We use a
layered behavioral model to analyze how three of these problems - the
thin spread of application knowledge, fluctuating and conflicting
requirements, and communication bottlenecks and breakdowns - affected
software productivity and quality through their impact on cognitive,
social and organizational processes.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-294-88
Date : September 09, 1988
Author : M.Lubars
# pages : 19
Title : The IDeA Design Environment
Abstract: The design of software is a complex process requiring the software
designer to simultaneously perform a variety of activities. These
include the intellectual activities of exploring and analyzing design
alternatives, the consideration and reuse of previous solutions, the
organizational tasks of managing design goals, dependencies, and
partial solutions, and the clerical aspects of recording design
decisions. Very few environments have been developed that provide all
of these aspects of design support. The IDeA system is a prototypical
design environment that was developed to demonstrate that a single
environment could integrate many different aspects of software design
support. This report describes the IDeA environment and the aspects
of design support that it provides.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-275-88
Date : August 18, 1988
Author : S.Smith;S.Gerhart
# pages : 52
Title : STATEMATE and Cruise Control: A Case 2 Study
Abstract: The STATEMATE system uses a state transition formalism embodied in
activity and control charts and supported by simulation, analysis,
and documentation tools. This paper describes its application to an
automobile cruise control system, emphasizing the methodology lessons
of the case study.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-249-88
Date : July 29, 1988
Author : J.Conklin
# pages : 16
Title : Design Rationale and Maintainability
Abstract: Design decisions and assumptions occur within and during the process
of system design, but are not documented. This rationale is thus
generally lost. The careful deliberation and much of the domain
learning that went into resolving key design issues is thus wasted,
increasing overall system costs. This cost is most apparent during
maintenance, when a significant portion of engineer's time is spent
trying to recover the lost rationale of the system structure. An
approach is proposed for capturing this process oriented material
during development, indexed so that it provides this critical
information to maintainers.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-252-88
Date : August 04, 1988
Author : J.Conklin;M.Begeman
# pages : 20
Title : gIBIS: A Tool for all Reasons
Abstract: This paper describes an application specific hypertext system
designed to facilitate and capture policy and design discussions. The
system, gIBIS, implements a specific method, called Issue Based
Information Systems (IBIS), which was developed for use on large,
complex design problems. gIBIS (for graphical IBIS) makes use of
color and a high speed relational database server to facilitate
building and browsing typed IBIS networks. Further, gIBIS supports
the collaborative construction of these networks by any number of
cooperating team members spread across a local area network.
Experience to date suggests that the gIBIS tool is quite useful tool
for communication and organizing informal information.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-400-87
Date : October 12, 1988
Author : C.Ellis;F.Harary
# pages : 23
Title : The Forced Color Assignment Problem
Abstract: The 4-color problem has received widespread attention within
mathematical circles; it is concerned with coloring nodes of a graph
in such a way that no adjacent nodes have the same color. This paper
introduces and investigates a new, related concept within graph
theory which is motivated by the needs of software engineering. The
concept is a graph invariant, f(G) which we call the node color
forcing number of G. This invariant specifies the minimum number of
nodes of a graph G which must be colored in order to completely
determine all remaining node colors. A significant open problem is
how to characterize f(G).
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-363-88
Date : October 26, 1988
Author : T.Biggerstaff
# pages : 23
Title : Reuse of Very Large Scale Components
Abstract: This presentation argues that the reuse of very large scale
components (10KLOC and above) is where we can expect the increase in
productivity and quality to approach an order of magnitude. For
smaller components, the improvements to the overall project are
significantly less. In addition to productivity and quality, other
factors change as one scales up the size of components. In
particular, the key research problems change. The problems of finding
components and component standards are now overwhelmed by problems
such as understanding the nature of the large components so that they
can be modified and adapted to new situations. This introduces the
need for a new kind of tool -- one that aids in recovering the design
of a program. Such Design Recovery tools aid both in the population
of libraries of reusable components as well as in the understanding
and maintenance of existing programs.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-213-88
Date : September 22, 1988
Author : I.Forman
# pages : 14
Title : Data Flow Anomaly Detection for Raddle87
Abstract: The problem of detecting data flow anomalies in Raddle87, a language
for the design of distributed systems, is addressed. An algebra A is
described that is specialized for the detection of data flow
anomalies by interpreting the regular expression for the paths in a
program as an A expression. A method for efficiently computing data
is presented; the method is based on the iterative algorithm of
global data flow analysis.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-335-88
Date : October 18, 1988
Author : J.Peterson
# pages : 17
Title : XSCOPE: A Debugging and Performance Tool for X11
Abstract: The X Window System architecture consists of separate processes for
the window server and its clients. When poor performance or errors
are a problem in such a system, it may be difficult to determine if
the problem is with the client, some client toolkit, or with the
server. Xscope allows a programmer to view the actual request, reply,
error, and event packets sent between the client and the server,
providing the data needed to understand the system. The design of
Xscope indicates some problems with the syntax of the X11 protocol.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-298-88
Date : September 18, 1988
Author : R.Guindon
# pages : 13
Title : A Framework for Building Software Development Environments: System
Design as Ill-structured Problems and as an Opportunistic Process
Abstract: One model of the design process is as a process of stepwise
refinement, which is useful to describe the process of designing
programs and simple software systems. Any theory or model, however,
is an abstraction of the actual phenomenon studied and accounts only
for a subset of the potentially relevant events. Other abstractions
might more appropriately account for the process of designing
realistic systems and have early impact on the building of
environments to support software designers. An analysis of system
design tasks reveals that they are ill-structured problems. An
empirical study, using a system design task of realistic complexity,
shows that the design process is highly opportunistic. Opportunistic
planning is planning in which interim decisions can lead to
subsequent decisions at arbitrary points in the planning space. On
the basis of this analysis of system design tasks and the empirical
results, implications for environments to support designers are
derived.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-271-88
Date : September 27, 1988
Author : E.Levy
# pages : 34
Title : A Survey of Distributed Coordination
Abstract: Distributed Coordination is a problem of implementing a synchronous
communication event between an arbitrary number of processes in a
distributed environment. The problem captures two primary aspects in
distributed computing: exclusion and synchronization. After
presenting a clear specification of the Distributed Coordination
problem, the paper surveys and assesses algorithms for solving it.
Both message passing and broadcast algorithms are discussed. Classes
of algorithms which exhibit common properties are identified and
analyzed.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-295-88
Date : November 04, 1988
Author : M.Lubars
# pages : 11
Title : Domain Analysis and Domain Engineering in IdeA
Abstract: IDeA is a design environment that provides several forms of design
assistance during the construction of software designs. IDeA
concentrates in supporting the reuse of abstract software designs,
represented as design schemas. Before IDeA can provide design reuse
support, a designer experienced in certain application domains must
populate IDeA's design reuse library with schemas for those domains.
In performing a domain analysis, the analyst must consider which
objects to include and to what degree they should be abstracted.
After completing the analysis, the domain must be engineered to
support reuse. This paper outlines the domain analysis and domain
engineering steps for populating IDeA's reuse library and considers
how much abstraction is appropriate within a reusable domain.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-366-88
Date : November 04, 1988
Author : M.Lubars
# pages : 31
Title : A Domain Modeling Representation
Abstract: A serious problem in most software development projects is that key
information fails to get recorded, and many other kinds of
information are not uniformly integrated. A possible solution to the
problem is to evolve a model of the software system that includes the
relevant knowledge about its development. It is conjectured that if
all this information could be recorded, its use would provide better
quality software, facilitate communication between software
engineers, enhance software maintenance, and provide software
artifacts that are more reusable. This paper presents a domain
modeling representation (DMR) that represents a large portion of the
desired information.
__________________________________________________________________
Rpt num : STP-367-88
Date : November 11, 1988
Author : D.Webster
# pages : 35
Title : Mapping the Design Information Representation Terrain
Abstract: This report attempts to establish a context for design information
representation research, via a qualitative survey and comparison of a
broad range of relevant technologies. We discuss associated
representation requirements, and present a working "technology map",
which reflects relationships among the surveyed technologies. Within
the context provided by the map, we point out limitations of the
representation mechanisms of conventional software development
technologies, and prospects for overcoming them.
__________________________________________________________________
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