Engineering the tools for the job and the job for the tools
Geoff Quentin · 1996
The paper is an assessment of current best work practice with respect to the use of tools to assist and engineer the software production process. A study has been made of the practical use of tools. In the first study a carefully designed tool set gave a significant return on investment. in the second the demands of the user forced the acquisition of a test tool; the project was rescued at the time but major design flaws surfaced later. In the third example tools forced the successful redesign of a major component and in the final example the tool and the job have been carefully entwined to make the creation of test material an integrated part of engineering the software. (5 pages)