leff@smu.CSNET (Laurence Leff) (06/25/87)
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. This list is an update to the posting dated April 6, 1987. ######################################################################## SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM TECHNICAL REPORTS (Non-Proprietary) (Updated May 29, 1987) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TR NUMBER: STP-003-87 DATE: April 2, 1987 TR TITLE: DELI: A Support Environment for Software Engineering Research at MCC AUTHOR(S): Peter Marks and Zvi Weiss ABSTRACT: DELI is a programming environment to support the research of MCC's Software Technology Program (MCC-STP) into the upstream of large-scale system development. DELI has three principal motivations: to encourage rapid prototyping of the research concepts of the STP staff, by providing needed support in specific areas; to enable researchers to easily build upon each other's prototypes, by providing a common computational environment; to facilitate transfer of MCC-STP developed technology to its shareholders, by building on a defined programmatic interface to an underlying virtual machine. This paper describes (the as yet uncompleted) DELI. CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted REVISIONS: None - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TR NUMBER: STP-108-87 DATE: April 16, 1987 TR TITLE: Domain Connection Discovery AUTHOR(S): Ira D. Baxter ABSTRACT: Transformational systems for the (automated) implementation of software from specifications usually depend on the semantics of the implemented software to give meaning to the specification. We argue that such semantics are ambiguous in the presence of multiple transforms, and thus limit the effective use of such a system. We propose that this limitation can be overcome by defining the semantics of the to-be-transformed structures. Having many islands of semantic definition then lead to the possibility of discovering the transformations that bridge the gaps between the islands automatically. We call this process Domain Connection Discovery. The paper outlines some initial thoughts on how such a discovery process might occur. CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted REVISIONS: None - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TR NUMBER: STP-124-87 DATE: April 27, 1987 TR TITLE: Experimental Evaluation of Software Documentation Formats AUTHOR(S): Bill Curtis, MCC-STP; Sylvia Sheppard, CTA, Inc.; Elizabeth Kruesi-Bailey, Software Metrics, Inc.; John Bailey, Software Metrics, Inc.; Deborah Boehm-Davis, George Mason University ABSTRACT: This paper describes research performed for the Office of Naval Research while the authors were at General Electric Company, and will appear in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Systems and Software. Four controlled experiments investigated the effectiveness of different documentation formats for presenting information about computer programs. Nine different documentation formats were created by varying three different forms of symbology (natural language, constrained language, and ideograms) and three different spatial arrangements (sequential, branching, and hierarchical). Professional programmers used these formats as aids to comprehend (Exp. 1), code (Exp. 2), debug (Exp. 3), and modify (Exp. 4) modular-sized programs. Natural language was found to be less effective in assisting most of the tasks studied than a constrained language or ideograms. A smaller effect was observed for the spatial arrangement in situations where control flow information aided the task. The largest effect in the experiments, individual differences among the participants, accounted for between a third and one half of the variation in performance. CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted REVISIONS: None - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TR NUMBER: STP-138-87 DATE: May 4, 1987 TR TITLE: Software Design Capture AUTHOR(S): Don Petersen ABSTRACT: The capture of the design decisions made during the construction of a large, complex software system, and the subsequent retrieval of the information, is a very difficult problem that has not been adequately addressed by existing software development environments. Central to LEONARDO, the software design environment being developed by the Software Technology Program (STP) of MCC, is an Information Base which contains the design decisions evaluated. This paper describes an activity within the STP that is dedicated to empirically constructing a useful prototype Information Base. Issues of identifying the constituent parts and their effective organization, and the ready capture of the artifacts of the upstream activities of a software development project are addressed. CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted REVISIONS: None - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TR NUMBER: STP-133-87 (A CHARGE OF $35 LEVIED FOR EACH COPY TO NON-MCC SHAREHOLDERS) DATE: May 8, 1987 TR TITLE: Highlights of the MCC Software Program: A Video Tape AUTHOR(S): Ted J. Biggerstaff ABSTRACT: This presentation provides an overview of the Software Technology Program at MCC and focuses on a few specific projects within that program. The specific projects that will be described are: the PlaneText/PlaneFig hypertext system developed at MCC, which is being used in several internal projects; the ROSE Reuse project, which is a system for reusing architectural abstractions and; the Raddle Distributed Systems Design project, which includes a visual interface (called Verdi) for developing and simulating Raddle designs. The talk will include short videotape clips that show demonstrations of the computer systems being developed in these projects. CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted REVISIONS: None - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ########################################################################### END of ABSTRACT LISTING ###########################################################################
leff@smu.CSNET (Laurence Leff) (11/04/87)
Recent technical reports from the Software Technology Program at MCC
are listed below.
Single copies are available at no charge (except as noted)
by contacting (e-mail or US Mail):
James D. Babcock @ MCC
Software Technology Program
P.O. Box 200195
Austin, Tx. 78720
512/338-3489
arpa: babcock@mcc.com
uucp: {seismo,harvard,gatech,pyramid}!ut-sally!im4u!milano!babcock
#######################################################################
SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM
TECHNICAL REPORTS
(Non-Proprietary)
November 2, 1987
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TR NUMBER: STP-139-87
DATE: May 29, 1987
TR TITLE: Report on Scenario Technology
AUTHOR(S): Alan Wexelblat
ABSTRACT: This report presents preliminary work done at STP to
develop a technology which can be used in the elicitation of requirements
for large, complex systems from users. Scenarios facilitate the
creation of a behavioral specification by capturing information
that is normally lost during production of a functional specification.
They are also used to promote a dialogue between users and designers.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-036-87
DATE: June 22, 1987
TR TITLE: Performance Analysis of Two Concurrency Control
Schemas for Design Environments
AUTHOR(S): Show-way Yeh, MCC; Clarence A. Ellis, MCC; Aral
Ege, MCC; Henry F. Korth, UT
ABSTRACT: In the design environment, the concurrency control
mechanisms of conventional database systems are frequently clumsy
and inadequate. In this paper, some unconventinal concurrency
control mechanisms, soft locks and version resolutions, are described
and evaluated. Both mechanisms require that certain classes of
conflict be resolved by interaction of designers. This paper
explains these mechanisms, constructs performance analysis models
for them, and derived formulas for performance measures, such
as throughput and percentage of transaction time spent for conflict
resolution. The formulas are then numerically evaluated for a
range of parameter values that are sensible within a design environment.
Some graphs of results are presented to show the performance
of the mechanisms. The mechanisms are shown to perform much better
than conventional locking mechanisms within design environments.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-179-87
DATE: July 2, 1987
TR TITLE: Design Technology Assessments: Affirm, CAEDE,
Draco, and PNUT
AUTHOR(S): Glenn R. Bruns, Susan L. Gerhart, Clay Johnson,
and Alan Yaung
ABSTRACT: This report contains four separate assessments of technology
studied during 1986 as part of the STP Design Technology Assessment
Project. An overview of the project status is given. The conclusions
from the total assessment work are briefly stated.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-398-86
DATE: July 14, 1987
TR TITLE: Two Software Process Models: Papers for the Software
Process Workshop
AUTHOR(S): Bill Curtis, Jeff Conklin & David Bridgeland
ABSTRACT: This report contains two papers describing similar
models of the software development process. The papers were submitted
to the Third International Software Process Workshop in Breckenridge,
Colorado in November, 1986. Curtis' paper describes the process
of design as consisting of a series of commitments, each of which
further refines the artifact under design and imposes constraints
and dependencies on other commitments. In the Conklin/Bridgeland
paper it is proposed that one view of the Leonardo process model
is a shift from macro-iteration -- large monolithic documents
delivered at the end of substantial waterfall phases -- to micro-iteration,
in which a much finer grain of document, corresponding roughly
to a single idea or paragraph, is "published", reviewed, and revised.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-202-87
DATE: July 20, 1987
TR TITLE: Hypermedia as a Tool to Aid Large Scale Reuse
AUTHOR(S): Ted J. Biggerstaff
ABSTRACT: This paper argues that the largest payoff of
reuse is in the reuse of large scale components. In order to
make such reuse feasible, the component to be reused must be accompanied
by a model that aids the software engineering in understanding
the component to be reused. We illustrate the use of a hypermedia
tool in developing such a model and present what we have discovered
in the course of building an example of such a model.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-258-87
DATE: August 6, 1987
TR TITLE: Requirements by Analogy
AUTHOR(S): Glenn Bruns and Colin Potts
ABSTRACT: A fundamental problem in upstream software design
is the detection of missing requirements. Our approach to this
problem is Requirements by Analogy, in which several aspects of
a system's requirements are compared to models of computer technology,
such as databases, editors, and computer security. Besides uncovering
some missing requirements, this approach aids in the reuse of
requirements issues and in the early discovery of potential implementation
problems. This paper sketches the main concepts of the Requirements
by Analogy approach, and gives an example of its application.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-093-87
DATE: July 31, 1987
TR TITLE: Mapping the Design Representation Terrain: A
Survey
AUTHOR(S): Dallas E. 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 introduced.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-268-87
DATE: August 18, 1987
TR TITLE: A Superimposition Control Construct for Distributed
Systems
AUTHOR(S): Shmuel Katz
ABSTRACT: A control structure called a superimposition
is proposed. The structure contains communicating formal processes
in its declaration. The processes will be bound to and execute
interleaved with processes from a basic distributed algorithm.
This structure captures one of the types of modularity natural
for distributed programming, which previously has been treated
using a macro-like implantation of code. The elements of a superimposition
are identified, a syntax is suggested, correctness criteria are
defined, and examples are presented.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-276-87
DATE: August 20, 1987
TR TITLE: Wide-Spectrum Support for Software Reusability
AUTHOR(S): Mitchell D. Lubars
ABSTRACT: The reuse of existing software components can
considerably improve productivity in the software development
process. Opportunity is available for reuse throughout the process,
from the initial conception of requirements and specifications
to the final generation, integration, and testing of executable
code. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the various
types of reusable artifacts in the software development process
and to demonstrate how a wide-spectrum approach can assist in
selecting and integrating the reusable components.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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CLASSIFICATION: MCC Confidential & Proprietary/STP Participants
Only
TR NUMBER: STP-283-87
DATE: August 31, 1987
TR TITLE: A Model of Cognitive Processes in Software Design:
An Analysis of Breakdowns in Early Design Activities by
Individuals
AUTHOR(S): Raymonde Guindon, In collaboration with Bill Curtis
and Herb Krasner
ABSTRACT: The verbal protocols of three experienced designers
working on the lift problem were collected and analyzed to identify
the main sources of breakdowns (i.e., difficulties) that occur
during design by individuals. One class of breakdowns is caused
by lack of knowledge and another class is caused by cognitive
limitations. A third class of breakdowns is caused by a combination
of these two factors. The eight breakdowns are described. A
cognitive model is presented to account for these breakdowns and
many other observed design behaviors. Implications for the design
of support software tools are generated.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-280-87
DATE: August 31, 1987
TR TITLE: The Design of an Electronic Funds-Transfer System
in UNITY
AUTHOR(S): Mark Staskauskas
ABSTRACT: We present the design of an electronic funds-transfer
(EFT) system using the UNITY parallel programming methodology
of Chandy and Misra [ChMi87]. The design is presented as a series
of refinement steps, starting from a formal specification and
high-level solution to the problem and ending with a program suitable
for execution on the distributed architecture of the EFT system.
Each refinement step consists of a UNITY program and a proof
that it meets the specification.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-269-87
DATE: September 3, 1987
TR TITLE: The Lift Problem Revisited
AUTHOR(S): Ira Forman
ABSTRACT: A Raddle87 solution of the Lift Problem is presented.
The solution illustrates the modularity and reusability of Raddle
teams. In particular, the N-party interaction is used to partition
the problem so that the aspects of individual lift control are
separated from the problem of multiple lift coordination. This
paper also introduces a timer team for designing the real-time
aspects of the problem such as waiting and timeout.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-285-87
DATE: September 8, 1987
TR TITLE: Using Raddle to Design Distributed Systems
AUTHOR(S): Michael Evangelist, Vincent Y. Shen, Ira Forman,
Mike Graf
ABSTRACT: We describe our linguistic tools, Raddle, and
its use in designing distributed systems. Raddle coordinates
concurrent processes with the n-party interaction, a new high-level
communication primitive. Another important feature of Raddle
is the team, which encapsulates communicating processes. We discuss
our efforts towards developing a complete methodology for using
Raddle and briefly describe our software toolset.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-133-87, Revision 1.0 (NOTE: A charge of $35 is
required for each video copy requested by
Non-MCC companies)
DATE: September 10, 1987
TR TITLE: Highlights of the MCC Software Program: A Video
Tape
AUTHOR(S): Ted J. Biggerstaff
ABSTRACT: This presentation provides an overview of the
Software Technology Program at MCC and focuses on a few specific
projects within that program. The specific projects that will
be described are: the PlaneText/PlaneFig hypertext system developed
at MCC, which is being used in several internal projects; the
ROSE Reuse project, which is a system for reusing architectural
abstractions and; the Raddle Distributed Systems Design project,
which includes a visual interface (called Verdi) for developing
and simulating Raddle designs. The talk will include short videotape
clips that show demonstrations of the computer systems being developed
in these projects.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-121-87
DATE: July 7, 1987 (Printed September 11, 1987)
TR TITLE: An EFT System: A Case Study in Design Using Raddle
AUTHOR(S): Ira R. Forman, Michael Evangelist
ABSTRACT: This report describes the process of designing
a realistic electronic-funds transfer system using the design
language Raddle. Both the design and the process are described
in detail.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-296-87
DATE: September 23, 1987
TR TITLE: Control of Cognitive Processes During Software
Design: What Tools Would Support Software
Designers?
AUTHOR(S): Raymonde Guindon and Bill Curtis
ABSTRACT: A verbal protocol study of professional software
designers has revealed three design process control strategies.
At least one of them, extensive exploration of the problem environment
with serendipitous problem solving had not been observed in previous
empirical studies nor had been acknowledged in the software engineering
practices. Specific breakdowns (difficulties) were associated
with the different design process control strategies. Software
tools to alleviate these breakdowns are recommended. These design
process control strategies are caused by differences in designers'
knowledge. Parts of a cognitive model of software design, based
on distributed control from specialists such as design schemas,
design heuristics, and design methods, are presented to account
for the observed control strategies.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-260-87
DATE: September 24, 1987
TR TITLE: Empirical Studies of the Design Process: Papers
for the Second Workshop on Empirical Studies of Programmers
AUTHOR(S): Design Process Group
ABSTRACT: This report contains three papers that were accepted
for publication in the Proceedings of the Second Workshop on Empirical
Studies of Programmers and will be presented at the workshop on
December 7, 1987 in Washington, DC. This technical report contains
an introductory description of the program of empirical research
on the software design process being conducted in the MCC Software
Technology Program, followed by the accepted research papers from
the Lift Experiment (thinking aloud protocols of individual designers),
the Object Server Observations (video-taped design team meetings),
and Field Studies (interviews with personnel from 19 large software
projects).
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-318-87
DATE: October 9, 1987
TR TITLE: Building a Visual Designer's Environment
AUTHOR(S): Mike Graf
ABSTRACT: Computer systems designers use a variety of visual
representations in developing, recording and communicating their
designs. This paper describes the development of a prototype
visual environment for these designers, describes early results
and discusses future research directions.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-319-87
DATE: October 9, 1987
TR TITLE: The Design of a Distributed System Using A Visual
Language
AUTHOR(S): Mike Graf
ABSTRACT: A visual environment for the specification of
distributed systems is under development at MCC. Within this
environment there is a visual language to express these specifications.
In this paper, a visual language solution to a version of the
left problem is presented.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-325-87
DATE: October 13, 1987
TR TITLE: Generating an Editor for a Software Design Language
AUTHOR(S): Glenn R. Bruns
ABSTRACT: The Cornell Synthesizer Generator is a tool that
generates syntax-directed editors from editor specifications.
It was used at STP to develop an editor for Raddle, a distributed
systems design language. This report chronicles that experience,
describing pitfalls that should be noted by future editor developers.
The conclusion is that simple syntax-directed editors are not
likely to significantly increase programmer productivity. However,
the editing model used by the Synthesizer allows more powerful
editors to be built that perform program analysis, display multiple
program views, and allow structural transformations. Extensions
to the editor are suggested that would allow even more powerful
editors to be generated. A specification for a simple editor
is listed in appendix B.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None
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TR NUMBER: STP-309-87
DATE: October 28, 1987
TR TITLE: Understanding Software Technology Transfer
AUTHOR(S): Walt Scacchi, James Babcock
ABSTRACT: What is software technology transfer? How do we
facilitate it? What inhibits it? This report synthesizes the current
state of the art for what software technology transfer is all
about and why it is often troublesome. Included is a review of
empirical studies that examine the activities, circumstances,
and outcomes that characterize the process of software technology
transfer. As the report shows, the basic issue in software technology
transfer is how to create a "high-push, high-pull" relationship
between the producers and consumers of new software technologies.
Accordingly, software technology transfer must be viewed as a
multi-stage process occurring over time and organizational space,
a process similar to and encompassing the software development
life cycle itself.
CLASSIFICATION: Non Proprietary/Unrestricted
REVISIONS: None