Software engineering activities at SEI (Software Engineering Institute)

Prototyping was shown to ease system specification and implementation, especially in the area of user interfaces. Other prototyping approaches do not allow for the evolution of the prototype into a production system or support maintenance after the system is fielded. A set of goals is presented for a modern user interface environment and Serpent, a prototype implementation that achieves these goals, is described

Designing graphical interface programming languages for the end user

This thesis sets out to answer three simple questions: What tools are available for novice programmers to program GUIs? Are those tools fulfilling their role? Can anything be done to make better tools? Despite being simple questions, the answers are not so easily constructed. In answering the first question, it was necessary to examine the range of tools available and decide upon criteria which could be used to identify tools aimed specifically at the novice programmer (there being no currently agreed criteria for their identification). Having identified these tools, it was then necessary to construct a framework within which they could be sensibly compared. The answering of the second question required an investigation of what were the successful features of current tools and which features were less successful. Success or failure of given features was determined by research in both programming language design and studies of programmer satisfaction. Having discovered what should be retained and discarded from current systems, the answering of the third question required the construction of new systems through blending elements from visual languages, program editors and fourth generation languages. These final prototypes illustrate a new way of thinking about and constructing the next generation of GUI programming languages for the novice

Underground Utility Mapping using a Portable Sensor System

Abstract A common concern in most governments is the renewal of infrastructure. With the aging state of the infrastructure in virtually all countries, there is a growing need to optimize the maintenance process due to the associated high capital costs. In addition, there is a recognized need for precise three-dimensional information related to the underground infrastructure due the potential hazard related to gas line strikes during construction. Unfortunately, the tragic results of many incidents have been documented over the last few years. A report from North Carolina State University states that there is one death per day (globally) due to punctured sub-surface utilities. Accurate infrastructure information will improve both municipal infrastructure renewal plans and worker and public safety on infrastructure construction sites. Case studies show that infrastructure information is often not up-to-date, or reliable, which can prohibit municipal decisions from being cost effective. By increasing the quality of the information, the confidence of infrastructure contractors will increase, and the risk of adversely contacting an underground asset will decrease, thereby elevating worker and public safety. A practical solution to this problem is the development and implementation of a mobile terrestrial photogrammetric mapping system to map exposed utilities on construction sites. This paper outlines the design of the Underground Infrastructure Mapping System (UIMS). The UIMS was designed to accurately map exposed underground utilities, and generate geospatial information for municipal underground utility databases; containing all of the necessary information to perform underground asset management. The system is comprised of three hardware components including a tablet PC, a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, and a digital camera. The software for this system employs a multi-faceted search algorithm based on the GPS data stream and/or site location algorithm using an enterprise GIS and a close-range photogrammetric bundle adjustment

RICIS Software Engineering 90 Symposium: Aerospace Applications and Research Directions Proceedings

Papers presented at RICIS Software Engineering Symposium are compiled. The following subject areas are covered: synthesis - integrating product and process; Serpent - a user interface management system; prototyping distributed simulation networks; and software reuse

OSU : a high speed software development environment

Several problems with user interface design and implementation have been identified: (1) user interfaces are difficult and time­-consuming to design and implement; (2) most user interface management systems (UIMS) are themselves difficult to use by a programmer; (3) UIMS's have not been integrated with other tools that support structured design, coding and maintenance, thus failing to maximize programmer productivity. In the Oregon Speedcode Universe (O.S.U.) project, we had taken the following approaches: (1) direct manipulation programming technique is used to address the problems with user interface design and implementation; (2) integration of UIMS with CASE tools; and (3) high-level program generation from scripts, and reusable components. This report surveys some of the existing UIMS's and describes O.S.U., a high-speed software development system. The main emphasis of this work is the design and implementation of Structure Chart Editor in O.S.U.. The Structure Chart Editor has three unique features: 1) combination of functional decomposition with object-oriented design, 2) alternate architectural views, e.g. call graph, uses graph, object graph, and graphical display of procedures, 3) merging the user interface specification with design and coding specifications. Experimental results suggest that the techniques employed by OSU can be used to develop 50-90% of an application without explicit programming yielding 2-10 fold productivity improvements

ErgoManager : a UIMS for monitoring and revising user interfaces for Web sites

This report describes the specification of ErgoManager as well as the results from the first validation study associated with the development of this UIMS (User Interface Management System) intended to support webmasters at assuring "in use" quality for interactive Web sites. The ErgoManager UIMS aggregates two basic components: ErgoMonitor and ErgoCoIn. ErgoMonitor is a monitoring tool intended to quantify the "average" usability that web sites have been offering to theirs users. It applies task-oriented analysis as a way to identify specific instances of users' behaviors while they are accomplishing transactional tasks with the web site. In the sequence, ErgoMonitor determine the incidence and the duration of these behaviors and use these data to produce usability measures, which quantify the average productivity of interactions. ErgoCoIn is a checklist based CSEE (Computer Supported Ergonomic Evaluation) tool that features automatic services aimed at inquiring context of use aspects and recognizing web page components as a way to tailor focused ergonomic checklists. By integrating these tools, ErgoManager intends to support a quality assurance strategy based on the confrontation between usability quantitative metrics and qualitative aspects of user interfaces

Software: Where we are and what is required in the future

The current status and future direction of flight critical software are presented in the form of view-graphs. The following subject areas are covered: the programmers environment; Saab Grippen Flight test program; present day tools; analysis tools (reverse engineering); automatic code generators; and future plans

Automatic generation of user interfaces from rigorous domain and use case models

Tese de doutoramento. Engenharia Informática. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 201