A view mechanism for an integrated project support environment

Abstract

In the last few years the rapidly expanding application of computer technology has brought the problems of software production increasingly to the fore, and it is widely accepted that current software development techniques are unable to produce high quality software at the rate required to keep pace with this. To try to improve this imbalance, the fte1d of Software Engineering has been advanced as a possible solution, attempting to apply the formal methods of an engineering discipline to software design and implementation. One of the most promising areas to be developed in this fte1d is that of Integrated Project Support Environments (IPSE's), which attempt to spread the focus of attention during software development from the coding stage to embrace the whole development cycle, from initial requirements speciftcation through to operational maintenance. These environments hope to improve prodUction efficiency and quality by providing a complete set of support tools to help with each stage of software development, and to supply the necessary tool integration to ensure a smooth transition of use between these tools. This thesis examines the services provided as part of an IPSE which allow users and tools to interact in a meaningful way throughout the life of a project. In particular, a view mechanism is seen as a vital component of these services allowing indiVidual external views of the facilities to be deftned which suit different users' needs. A model of a view mechanism for an IPSE is developed, and within a particular implementation of an IPSE, a view mechanism is formally deftned and implemented. Finally, the view mechanism is analysed and discussed before concluding with some directions for future research.