Search results for "Computer-aided software engineering"
showing 10 items of 22 documents
CASE tool support for co-operative work in information systems design
1998
The need for asynchronous co-operative work in design is shown by many surveys of CASE tool use and research on design. MetaEdit+ is a metaCASE environment that allows multiple simultaneous modellers to work together on designing information systems and also information systems design methods. We describe the automatic locking strategies that enable MetaEdit+ to offer a high level of concurrency whilst guaranteeing consistency, enabling effective co-operative work. In particular we describe a new collection data structure that allows high concurrency of updates even at small sizes, fulfilling the need in CASE for largest growth of design information at the start of a project. Finally, we ev…
Patterns Reuse in the PASSI methodology
2003
Design patterns already proved successful in lowering the development time and number of errors of object-oriented software; now, they are, candidate to play a similar role in the MAS (multi-agent system) context. In this work we describe our experiences in the identification, production and application of patterns for agents. Some patterns are described together with the classification criteria and documentation approach we adopt. Upon them, we base a pattern reuse process that can be considered one of the distinguishing elements of the design methodology (PASSI) we use to develop MAS. Patterns can be applied to an existing agent or used to produce a new one with the support of a specific …
How to combine tools and methods in practice— a field study
1990
In spring 1989 we surveyed the experiences of some Finnish companies in methodology modelling (metamodelling) and adaptation of tools and methodologies to each other (methodology adaptation). The companies represented software production, banking, wood and metal industry, and wholesale trade. The study was carried out as a field study where we interviewed method developers, systems analysts and their supervisors. The goal of the survey was to find out whether there was need for metamodelling or methodology adaptation in general and how this need had been satisfied. The study shows that a little experience had been gained in adapting data dictionaries to methodologies but no such attempts ha…
Introducing pattern reuse in the design of multi-agent systems
2002
This paper focuses on design issues to be faced when developing knowledge management (KM) applications based on the integration of peer-to-peer and multi-agent technologies. The reasons for using these technologies rest on the requirements posed by the specific KM paradigm that has been adopted, which emphasizes aspects such as autonomy and distribution of knowledge sources. We adopt an agent-oriented approach that extends Tropos, a software engineering methodology introduced in earlier papers. We present a characterization of peer-to-peer in terms of a general architectural pattern, a set of design guidelines for peer-to-peer applications, and a framework that integrates multi-agent and pe…
MetaEdit+ A Fully Configurable Multi-User and Multi-Tool CASE and CAME Environment
1996
Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) environments have spread at a lower pace than expected. One reason for this is the immaturity of existing environments in supporting development in-the-large and by-many and their inability to address the varying needs of the software developers. In this paper we report on the development of a next generation CASE environment called MetaEdit+. The environment seeks to overcome all the above deficiencies, but in particular pays attention to catering for the varying needs of the software developers. MetaEdit+ is a multi-method, multi-tool platform for both CASE and Computer Aided Method Engineering (CAME). As a CASE tool it establishes a versatile an…
An Expert System for the Design of Agents
2007
The growing interest for the design and development of multi-agent systems has brought to the creation of a specific research area called Agent-Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE), specifically conceived for the development of complex systems. The development of such systems needs the support of appropriate tools that could help the designer in producing the design artefacts. We developed a tool called Metameth that may be used to define a new (agent-oriented) design process as well as to apply it. In this paper, we describe only a slice of this complex tool, specifically addressing the interaction with human actors (the designers). This subsystem is conceived as a collaborative multi-agen…
Experiences with the integration of protocol software tools
1996
An analysis of a number of protocol software tools that are widely used in the development of communication protocols in the Finnish telecommunications industry is presented. To analyse the integrated use of these tools, a non-trivial application layer protocol with ACSE, ROSE and a simple presentation layer has been designed and implemented with the help of these software tools. Particular attention has been paid to compose a complete protocol implementation from the fragments produced with separate tools. Our observations clearly indicate that this integration is a major problem with the current practices.
MetaEdit— A flexible graphical environment for methodology modelling
1991
Existing CASE tools are often rigid and do not support the users' native methodologies. To alleviate this, more flexible and customisable tools called CASE shells are emerging. However, the customisation of those tools is still cumbersome and error-prone, and demands several configuration files that follow a rigid syntax of some metamodelling language(s). In order to make the customisation easier, we propose a graphical metamodelling editor, MetaEdit, with which the conceptual structures of the user methodology can be modelled easily using an easy-to-grasp graphical notation. With MetaEdit, methodology models can be constructed with less effort and the configuration files for the CASE shell…
A Notation for Modeling Jason-Like BDI Agents
2012
The design and development of a large Multi Agent System (MAS) is a complex and difficult activity where a proper modeling notation may offer a significant contribution to the formulation of the best solution. The support provided by a specific CASE tool can significantly contribute to make the chosen approach technically valid and it is also a fundamental element of a feasible development strategy. The present work reports a UML profile and the related graphical notation for describing a MAS based on the Jason meta model. Moreover a specific CASE tool has been developed for supporting MASs design and automatic code generation. The proposed notation is shown in details using a classical exa…
Reduction of UML Class Diagrams
2002
One and the same “real world” can be modeled by different UML class diagrams, which in such a case can be considered “intuitively equivalent”. A formalization of this “intuitive equivalence” of class diagrams is proposed. An algorithm is constructed that for two class diagrams determines if they model the same “real world”. This algorithm can be used in CASE tools to compare alternative models of a system, and for diagram “compression” to facilitate understanding of large diagrams.