Comparing design methodologies through process modeling

Abstract

A number of software design methodologies have been developed and compared over the past 20 years. A good comparison would aid in codifying, enhancing and integrating these design methodologies. However, the existing comparisons are based largely upon the experiences of practitioners and the understandings of the authors. Consequently, these comparisons tend to be subjective and to be affected by application domains. It is the purpose of this paper to introduce a systematic approach to objectively compare design methodologies. Our approach is based on modeling the design methodologies and classifying their components. Modeling the design methodologies entails decomposing the methodologies into components. The classification of the components illustrates which components address similar design issues and/or have similar structures. Similar components can be identified and may be further modeled to aid in understanding more precisely their similarities and differences. The models of the methodologies are also used as the bases for conjectures and conclusions about the differences between the methodologies. In this paper we demonstrate this approach by using it to compare JSD [Jacks83] and Booch's Object Oriented Design (BOOD) [Booch86]. The results of this comparison also demonstrate that process modeling [Oster87, Kelln88] is valuable as a powerful tool in analysis of software development approaches.