A layered operational model for describing inter-tool communication in tool integration frameworks

Integration frameworks for building software engineering environments provide at least data, control and presentation integration facilities, together with integration devices which afford access to these facilities by the tools which populate the framework. Typically, an integration device is a specially developed language, or extension to an existing language, in which the integration programmer specifies the desired interactions between the tools comprising the software engineering environment. Surprisingly little effort has been applied to assessing the expressiveness of integration languages, even though the power of such a language limits the level of integration a tool can achieve within the environment. Our work seeks to provide an approach to both assessing and comparing the expressiveness of the integration devices of a range of commercial and research products. The paper presents a layered operational model, based on information structures; this model has been developed for describing the semantics of the inter-tool communication features of integration devices in a precise manner, and in a manner which will facilitate such assessment and comparison

The Hamlet design entry system: an overview of ADL and its environment

Exploiting parallelism for industrial real-time applications has not received much attention compared to scientific applications. The available real-time design methods do not adequately address the issue of parallelism, resulting still in a strong need for low-level tools such as debuggers and monitors. This need illustrates that developing parallel real-time applications is indeed a difficult and tedious task. In this paper we show how problems can be alleviated if an approach is followed that allows for experimentation with designs and implementations. In particular, we discuss a development system that integrates design, implementation, execution, and analysis of real-time applications, putting emphasis on exploitation of parallelism. In the paper we primarily concentrate on the support for application *design*, as we feel that parallelism should essentially be addressed at this level

Evolving software reengineering technology for the emerging innovative-competitive era

This paper reports on a multi-tool commercial/military environment combining software Domain Analysis techniques with Reusable Software and Reengineering of Legacy Software. It is based on the development of a military version for the Department of Defense (DOD). The integrated tools in the military version are: Software Specification Assistant (SSA) and Software Reengineering Environment (SRE), developed by Computer Command and Control Company (CCCC) for Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) and Joint Logistics Commanders (JLC), and the Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) STARS Software Engineering Environment (SEE) developed by Boeing for NAVAIR PMA 205. The paper describes transitioning these integrated tools to commercial use. There is a critical need for the transition for the following reasons: First, to date, 70 percent of programmers' time is applied to software maintenance. The work of these users has not been facilitated by existing tools. The addition of Software Reengineering will also facilitate software maintenance and upgrading. In fact, the integrated tools will support the entire software life cycle. Second, the integrated tools are essential to Business Process Reengineering, which seeks radical process innovations to achieve breakthrough results. Done well, process reengineering delivers extraordinary gains in process speed, productivity and profitability. Most importantly, it discovers new opportunities for products and services in collaboration with other organizations. Legacy computer software must be changed rapidly to support innovative business processes. The integrated tools will provide commercial organizations important competitive advantages. This, in turn, will increase employment by creating new business opportunities. Third, the integrated system will produce much higher quality software than use of the tools separately. The reason for this is that producing or upgrading software requires keen understanding of extremely complex applications which is facilitated by the integrated tools. The radical savings in the time and cost associated with software, due to use of CASE tools that support combined Reuse of Software and Reengineering of Legacy Code, will add an important impetus to improving the automation of enterprises. This will be reflected in continuing operations, as well as in innovating new business processes. The proposed multi-tool software development is based on state of the art technology, which will be further advanced through the use of open systems for adding new tools and experience in their use

A technology reference model for client/server software development

In today's highly competitive global economy, information resources representing enterprise-wide information are essential to the survival of an organization. The development of and increase in the use of personal computers and data communication networks are supporting or, in many cases, replacing the traditional computer mainstay of corporations. The client/server model incorporates mainframe programming with desktop applications on personal computers. The aim of the research is to compile a technology model for the development of client/server software. A comprehensive overview of the individual components of the client/server system is given. The different methodologies, tools and techniques that can be used are reviewed, as well as client/server-specific design issues. The research is intended to create a road map in the form of a Technology Reference Model for Client/Server Software Development.ComputingM. Sc. (Information Systems

Advanced Magnetic Thin-Film Heads Under Read-While-Write Operation

A Read-While-Write (RWW) operation for tape and/or potentially disk applications is needed in the following three cases: 1. High reliability; 2. Data servo systems; 3. Buried servo systems. All these applications mean that the read (servo) head and write head are operative simultaneously. Consequently, RWW operation will require work to suppress the so-called crossfeed field radiation from the write head. Traditionally, write-read crossfeed has been reduced in conventional magnetic recording heads by a variety of screening methods, but the effectness of these methods is very limited. On the other hand, the early theoretical investigations of the crossfeed problem concentrating on the flux line pattern in front of a head structure based on a simplified model, may not be comprehensive. Today a growing number of magnetic recording equipment manufacturers employ thin-film technology to fabricate heads and thereby the size of the modern head is much smaller than in the past. The increasing use of thin-film metallic magnetic materials for heads, along with the appearance of other new technologies, such as the MR reproductive mode and keepered media, has stimulated the need for an increased understanding of the crossfeed problem by advanced analysis methods and a satisfactory practical solution to achieve the RWW operation. The work described in this thesis to suppress the crossfeed field involves both a novel reproductive mode of a Dual Magnetoresistive (DMR) head, which was originally designed to gain a large reproduce sensitivity at high linear recording densities exceeding 100 kFCI, playing the key role in suppressing the crossfeed (the corresponding signal-noise ratio is over 38 dB), and several other compensation schemes, giving further suppression. Advanced analytical and numerical methods of estimating crossfeed in single and multi track thin-film/MR heads under both DC and AC excitations can often help a head designer understand how the crossfeed field spreads and therefore how to suppress the crossfeed field from the standpoint of an overall head configuration. This work also assesses the scale of the crossfeed problem by making measurements on current and improved heads, thereby adapting the main contributors to crossfeed. The relevance of this work to the computer industry is clear for achieving simultaneous operation of the read head and write head, especially in a thin-film head assembly. This is because computer data rates must increase to meet the demands of storing more and more information in less time as computer graphics packages become more sophisticated.Hewlett Packar

An approach to enacting business process models in support of the life cycle of integrated manufacturing systems

The complexity of enterprise engineering processes requires the application of reference architectures as means of guiding the achievement of an adequate level of business integration. This research aims to address important aspects of this requirement by associating the formalism of reference architectures to various life cycle phases of integrating manufacturing systems (IMS) and enabling their use in addressing contemporary system engineering issues. In pursuit of this aim, the following research activities were carried out: (1) to devise a framework which supports key phases of the IMS life cycle and (2) to populate part of this framework with an initial combination of architectures which can be encapsulated into a computer-aided systems engineering environment. This has led to the creation of a workbench capable of providing support for modelling, analysis, simulation, rapid-prototyping, configuration and run-time operation of an IMS, based on a consistent set of models associated with the engineering processes involved. The research effort concentrated on selecting and investigating the use of appropriate formalisms which underpin a selection of architectures and tools (i. e. CIM-OSA, Petrinets, object-oriented methods and CIM-BIOSYS), this by designing, implementing, applying and testing the workbench. The main contribution of this research is to demonstrate that it is possible to retain an adequate level of formalism, via computational structures and models, which extend through the IMS life cycle from a conceptual description of the system through to actions that the system performs when operating. The underlying methodology which supported this contribution is based on enacting models of system behaviour which encode important coordination aspects of manufacturing systems. The strategy for demonstrating the incorporation of formalism to the IMS life cycle was to enable the aggregation into a workbench of knowledge of 'what' the system is expected to achieve (i. e. 'problems' to be addressed) and 'how' the system can achieve it (i. e possible 'solutions'). Within the workbench, such a knowledge is represented through an amalgamation of business process modelling and object-oriented modelling approaches which, when adequately manipulated, can lead to business integration

Thesaurus-Based Methodologies and Tools for Maintaining Persistent Application Systems

The research presented in this thesis establishes thesauri as a viable foundation for models, methodologies and tools for change management. Most of the research has been undertaken in a persistent programming environment. Persistent language technology has enabled the construction of sophisticated and well-integrated change management tools; tools and applications reside in the same store. At the same time, the research has enhanced persistent programming environments with models, methodologies and tools that are crucial to the exploitation of persistent programming in construction and maintenance of long-lived, data-intensive application systems