Spade — towards case tools that can guide design

Abstract

A CASE tool to assist a designer in the task of guiding the software design process is presented. The architecture of the tool consists of design editors, databases of reusable software components and their descriptors, a dictionary of design control knowledge, a component proposer, a component applier, an agenda, an explainer, a design history recorder and a simulation-based design analyzer. The implementation of these functional building blocks in an experimental CASE tool is discussed. Experiences gained from the use of the tool in the design of a large real-life telecommunication software system are outlined.