Integrating automated structured analysis and design with Ada programming support environments

Ada Programming Support Environments (APSE) include many powerful tools that address the implementation of Ada code. These tools do not address the entire software development process. Structured analysis is a methodology that addresses the creation of complete and accurate system specifications. Structured design takes a specification and derives a plan to decompose the system subcomponents, and provides heuristics to optimize the software design to minimize errors and maintenance. It can also produce the creation of useable modules. Studies have shown that most software errors result from poor system specifications, and that these errors also become more expensive to fix as the development process continues. Structured analysis and design help to uncover error in the early stages of development. The APSE tools help to insure that the code produced is correct, and aid in finding obscure coding errors. However, they do not have the capability to detect errors in specifications or to detect poor designs. An automated system for structured analysis and design TEAMWORK, which can be integrated with an APSE to support software systems development from specification through implementation is described. These tools completement each other to help developers improve quality and productivity, as well as to reduce development and maintenance costs. Complete system documentation and reusable code also resultss from the use of these tools. Integrating an APSE with automated tools for structured analysis and design provide capabilities and advantages beyond those realized with any of these systems used by themselves

Translating expert system rules into Ada code with validation and verification

The purpose of this ongoing research and development program is to develop software tools which enable the rapid development, upgrading, and maintenance of embedded real-time artificial intelligence systems. The goals of this phase of the research were to investigate the feasibility of developing software tools which automatically translate expert system rules into Ada code and develop methods for performing validation and verification testing of the resultant expert system. A prototype system was demonstrated which automatically translated rules from an Air Force expert system was demonstrated which detected errors in the execution of the resultant system. The method and prototype tools for converting AI representations into Ada code by converting the rules into Ada code modules and then linking them with an Activation Framework based run-time environment to form an executable load module are discussed. This method is based upon the use of Evidence Flow Graphs which are a data flow representation for intelligent systems. The development of prototype test generation and evaluation software which was used to test the resultant code is discussed. This testing was performed automatically using Monte-Carlo techniques based upon a constraint based description of the required performance for the system

Software engineering capability for Ada (GRASP/Ada Tool)

The GRASP/Ada project (Graphical Representations of Algorithms, Structures, and Processes for Ada) has successfully created and prototyped a new algorithmic level graphical representation for Ada software, the Control Structure Diagram (CSD). The primary impetus for creation of the CSD was to improve the comprehension efficiency of Ada software and, as a result, improve reliability and reduce costs. The emphasis has been on the automatic generation of the CSD from Ada PDL or source code to support reverse engineering and maintenance. The CSD has the potential to replace traditional prettyprinted Ada Source code. A new Motif compliant graphical user interface has been developed for the GRASP/Ada prototype

Collected software engineering papers, volume 9

This document is a collection of selected technical papers produced by participants in the Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) from November 1990 through October 1991. The purpose of the document is to make available, in one reference, some results of SEL research that originally appeared in a number of different forums. This is the ninth such volume of technical papers produced by the SEL. Although these papers cover several topics related to software engineering, they do not encompass the entire scope of SEL activities and interests. For the convenience of this presentation, the eight papers contained here are grouped into three major categories: (1) software models studies; (2) software measurement studies; and (3) Ada technology studies. The first category presents studies on reuse models, including a software reuse model applied to maintenance and a model for an organization to support software reuse. The second category includes experimental research methods and software measurement techniques. The third category presents object-oriented approaches using Ada and object-oriented features proposed for Ada. The SEL is actively working to understand and improve the software development process at GSFC