Supersystem Programming with Model
Prywes, Yuan Chang Shi, Boleslaw Karol Szymanski, Jine S. Tseng · Computer · 1986
The inherent complexity mission-critical supersystems brings to focus the many difficulties generally encountered in software development. Such technical areas as optimizing hardware/software efficiency, synchronizing multiple instruction streams, evaluating real-time constraints, coping with massive computations and supporting progressive system evolution through the system life cycle pose a formidable challenge to software developers. Adding the task of detecting and correcting errors and attaining high confidence in supersystem performance nearly overtaxes even the most expert and skilled programmers. Because of these special difficulties, the conventional software development process - especially strict division into phases for requirements, design, coding and testing - must be abandoned. Typically, these phases are followed circularly, so an error in one phase is propagated to other phases until it is detected and corrected in all places. The authors advocate, instead, that the computer be used in the design as requirements are developed. The results are rapid feedback on design constraints and on errors in the requirements, more exhaustive design checking, and the evaluation of many more designs. To simplify interactions, the user can view the supersystem statically as a network of data relations or transformations. This view also facilitates modificatons during the development. The automatic system cooperates with themore » user in composing the specification by checking it and soliciting changes and additions, and eventually by producing dynamic object computations. The completed system becomes a by-product of an extended progressive requirements determination and correction phase.« less