wdh@holos0.uucp (Weaver Hickerson) (11/07/90)
Does anyone have any recommendations, info, pointers, for/against any specific CASE tools. Any addresses/phone numbers for developers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Weaver -- -Weaver Hickerson Voice (404) 496-1358 : ..!edu!gatech!holos0!wdh
mjr@hussar.dco.dec.com (Marcus J. Ranum) (11/07/90)
In article <1990Nov6.225211.9470@holos0.uucp> wdh@holos0.uucp (Weaver Hickerson) writes: >Does anyone have any recommendations, info, pointers, for/against any >specific CASE tools. For what kind of platform, pray ? X-window based ? SunOs based ? Do you need to be able to analyse CRAY assembler ? Etc... That being said, what are you looking for ? Project management tools ? Source code management tools ? A good debugger ? Regression testing tools ? Multi-langauge support (Ada, C, COBOL?) All of the above integrated into one [huge] "seamless" package ? how much of a concern is price ? Etc... "CASE" is like "OOP" and other market-paradigms - it means 10e6 different things, depending on who you are talking to, and how much of your money they are trying to take. "CASE" I have heard to describe anything from a good debugger to an integrated environment that comes with an integrated philosophy of existence [picture a FORTRAN compiler with Nicklaus Wirth built in, refusing to let you use GOTOs]. There are "overview" "CASE" tools such as IDE, which let you diagram data flow and components, and buy into the whole Yourdon DeMarco fascist programming paradigm. There are probably similar tools available for the cutting edge buzzword technologies like "object oriented design" [when we called it "modular code" in high school, we were clearly an intellectual supernova ahead of our time]. I've seen a couple of CASEs where a software shop decides to streamline their operation: "let's get some CASE tools!" "yeah!" and, the sometimes wind up with something intended for managing *HUGE* programs, and the programmers all (hopefully) use lint(1) instead, and all that money goes down the drain. Something like a complete Ada environment and IDE is overkill for day-to-day programming. [anything smaller than, say, a fairly simple operating system - like UNIX used to be] [now that UNIX is complex enough to require management tools, it's too late] If you're working on a long-term project that may grow, then some kind of overview type CASE tools (like IDE) may help. I think you need to narrow the query some before you'll get any useful pointers. If all you're looking for is a good C programming tool, I heartily recommend [not speaking for Digital, here] Saber-C, which is a very very useful product, even if they do spell "sabre" strangely. :) mjr.
vlr@litwin.com (Vic Rice) (11/09/90)
mjr@hussar.dco.dec.com (Marcus J. Ranum) writes: >In article <1990Nov6.225211.9470@holos0.uucp> wdh@holos0.uucp (Weaver Hickerson) writes: >>Does anyone have any recommendations, info, pointers, for/against any >>specific CASE tools. > For what kind of platform, pray ? X-window based ? SunOs based ? >Do you need to be able to analyse CRAY assembler ? Etc... I would like hear about any CASE tools for DEC Ultrix boxes. Specifically, we have a DECStation 5000 (as of yesterday). We are looking at starting a development project which will involve 3-5 programmers on a medium sized MOTIF application. -- Dr. Victor L. Rice Litwin Process Automation
mjr@hussar.dco.dec.com (Marcus J. Ranum) (11/09/90)
In article <1990Nov08.230633.3098@litwin.com> vlr@litwin.com (Vic Rice) writes: >I would like hear about any CASE tools for DEC Ultrix boxes. Specifically, >we have a DECStation 5000 (as of yesterday). We are looking at starting >a development project which will involve 3-5 programmers on a medium sized >MOTIF application. I assume you mean C language, then ? With 3-5 programmers you probably won't need something "industrial strength" to handle revisions, regression, and so on, and can probably (unless you hate them) get by with (free) UNIX tools like rcs for revision control and cake to control compilation. You might not even need something like cake if all you're targeting is DS5000s. There are some things in field test right now (VUIT) that are designed to allow WYSIWYG window design and layout. There are some interesting things in the works in the way of compilers and integrated editor/debugger/compilers but you'll have to get a non-disclosure for those. Right now there are some excellent 3rd party integrated editor/debugger/compilers such as Saber-C (which is #1 on my programmer "must have" list). Medium-sized to me doesn't imply all that formal design methodology hoo-haw is necessary (just a good design) :) but there are offerings like IDE to cover that. Bug your account rep for more information! mjr.