The Software Development Environment as a Knowledge Base Management System

Abstract

This paper sketches a software development environment for data-intensive information systems. It is based on the premise that software can be viewed as a multilayered description, which includes a requirements specification, a design and an implementation, and that this description should be managed as a knowledge base. The proposed environment uses the requirements modelling language CML, the design language Taxis, and the implementation language DBPL. The paper outlines the features of these languages and illustrates the proposed multilayered structure of software with an example. It also discusses the features that will have to be supported by an environment suitable for constructing, maintaining, and testing software knowledge bases.