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PIROL

swMATH ID: 2981
Software Authors: Herrmann, Stephan
Description: Views and concerns, and interrelationships. Lessons learned from developing the multi-view software engineering environment PIROL Software engineering environments are complex systems with special requirements regarding modularity and adaptability. This thesis describes the development of the environment PIROL. The description is structured as a sequence of the following 12 concerns: (1) Meta modeling is the basic concept by which PIROL decomposes its data in accordance to an object-oriented data model. This allows arbitrary tools to access data of other tools in a meaningful way. (2) For persistent storage the model is mapped to the concepts of the repository H-PCTE. (3) The granularity of a meta model determines effectiveness and efficiency of the system. PIROL supports hybrid modeling as a compromise between extremes. (4) By methods of the meta model behavior modeling is supported for a wide range of tasks. (5) Exception handling is supported systematically. (6) Several mechanisms for preserving data integrity are integrated. (7) The system follows a client-server architecture. As its, central component the “workbench” executes the repository language LuaP. (8) Control integration allows for close cooperation of loosely coupled components by means of distributed control flows. (9) The coordinated cooperation of multiple users is supported. (10) Logical independence of tools is achieved by the novel concept of dynamic view connectors. (11) Common services are available throughout the environment in a uniform way. (12) The system is prepared for evolution.par All these concerns are tightly interlocked. A considerable share of the presentation is dedicated to such mutual interactions. Is is shown, how a large number of design decisions is motivated exactly by these interactions. The description follows the concept of a ”Concern Interaction Matrix” which is proposed for managing complexity. Characteristics of concerns and their interactions are elaborated. The description of PIROL is completed by a list of integrated tools, initial performance measurements and evaluation. Finally, several concepts relating to the notion of ”views” are discussed. Views are a central concern of PIROL. Furthermore, the discussion generalizes over the multi-dimensional presentation in the body of this thesis. Notions, concepts and techniques for views in software engineering are presented and discussed. This discussion connects views in object-oriented databases, aspect-oriented software development and general “concern modeling”, to which the method of“‘Concern Interaction Matrices” contributes. Views are regarded as a central concept of software engineering at the same level as abstraction and decomposition. Dynamic View Connectors are a significant contribution of PIROL that combines database views and aspect-oriented programming.par The notion of “views” is defined with far less precision than abstraction and decomposition, but indeed by the overlap and mismatches, which can be captured by views, this concept is a strong principle for structuring software and information. Effort is needed for handling inconsistencies as they may arise, but after all, views are a suitable means for managing the complexity of systems and for designing these systems for evolution.
Homepage: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=354222.353185
Keywords: modularity; adaptability
Related Software: AspectJ; ArchJava
Cited in: 3 Publications

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