From: hlam@bnr.ca (Hayward Lam)
Subject: Re: Need For Automated Programming? (Re: I Take It Back)
Reply-To: hlam@bnr.ca (Hayward Lam)
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd.
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 22:17:25 GMT

In article <1992Nov19.185500.13990@leland.Stanford.EDU>, gcolello@biosphere.Stanford.EDU (Greg Colello) writes:
|> In article <1992Nov19.081922.28237@cs.tu-berlin.de>  
|> marcel@opal.cs.tu-berlin.de (Marcel Weiher) writes:
|> 
|> > hlam@bnr.ca (Hayward Lam) writes:
|> > 
|> >==>If ObjecTime can produce Objective C code and can be incorporated in  
|> >==>IB, it would be a great design tool!! 
|> > 
|> > People stil don't get it.  The point about IB is that it doesn't  
|> generate
|> > code, it generates objects.  As you're working in IB, you're working  
|> with
|> > the same objects you'll have when your application is running.  It also
|> > means that nibs can act as templates and be read multiple times,  
|> generated
|> > as the app is running and read back in etc.
|> > 
|> > Marcel
|> 
|> Ahh..The dialog starts to heat up a little.
|> 
|> Actually I think Hayward got what I meant. Marcel points out what IB is,  
|> while Hayward points out what it isn't. It's what IB isn't that bothers  
|> me.

IB is a wonderful thing. It allows developers to focus on solving a problem
instead of fighting with GUI implementation. ObjecTime or CodeBuilder is 
another layer down. It allows developers to focus on the design of the 
solution to a problem. 
This type of tools is extremely helpful for developing complex software and software maintenance.
Think about developing a complex software, you can validate your design by
exhausting every possible path before coding starts. This will improve software quality a lot.
In terms of software maintenance, you don't go in and change the code. You change the design and make sure your change is properly incorporated. 
 
Here's something they say about ObjecTime:

------------------------------  Start  ------------------------------------

ObjecTime is the first commercially available object-oriented CASE tool targeted for event-driven systems, including those with a high degree of complexity and distribution.

More than just a diagramming tool, it enables the creation of "executable" analysis and design models. The concepts apply to the implementation stage as well, and with future run-time system adaptors, automatically generated code can run unaltered on a product platform.

It covers a broad application spectrum from system architecture and protocol verification to detailed software design and implementation.

ObjecTime reflects the extensive experience of Bell-Northern Research (BNR), which develops real-time distributed telecommunications systems for Northern Telecom.

It supports the Real-Time Object-Oriented Modelling (ROOM) methodology, encourage=ing iterative development. Graphically captured designs, integrated with detailed operations specified in C++ or a simple rapid prototyping language, are executed and validated in an extensive integrated run-time environment.

The high-level design paradigms supported for real-time include concurrent objects (hierarchically decomposed) that communicate via messages through formal protocol definitions. Complex hierarchical finite-state machines specify the behavior of such objects. Inheritance can be applied at the design component level, independent of the detail level programming language.

ObjecTime is available on Sun and HP workstations. Please contact us for the status of other platforms, and for more information on how ObjecTime can help your project.

email: objtime@bnr.ca

-----------------------------  The End  -------------------------------------


Regards,
Hayward
emial: hlam@bnr.ca
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