AREA IS THEREFORE DIRECTED AT SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN SOFTWARE MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES .
ANOTHER PART INTENDS TO PROVIDE THE BASIS FOR THE MORE ADVANCED ENVIRONMENTS OF THE FUTURE . THIS WILL INVOLVE THE APPLICATION OF AIP TECHNIQUES ( SEE SUBPROGRAMME 3 ) TO THE PROBLEMS OF SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS . SUCH ENVIRONMENTS MIGHT BE EXPECTED TO BE EXTENSIBLE AND PLAY AN ACTIVE RATHER THAN A PASSIVE ROLE . ON THE OTHER HAND , REQUIREMENTS COMING FROM THE AIP DOMAIN MUST BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT TO PROVIDE ENVIRONMENTS SUITED TO THEIR NEEDS . MOREOVER , IT IS DESIRABLE THAT APPROPRIATE INTERFACES BETWEEN THESE AND THE INITIAL COMMON ENVIRONMENT ( SEE 2.3 ) BE PROVIDED .
R AND D TOPICS
THE TOPICS DESCRIBED HERE ARE OF LONG-TERM AND SPECULATIVE NATURE . DETAILS OF THE GROUPING OF ALL TOPICS INTO PACKAGES CANNOT BE GIVEN AT THIS STAGE AND ONLY ONE TYPE A PROJECT HAS BEEN DEFINED . HOWEVER , IT IS EXPECTED THAT PROPOSALS WILL PROVIDE OTHER SUCH GROUPINGS , AND UP TO THREE TYPE A PROJECTS COULD BE ACCOMMODATED . THEY WILL INITIALLY HAVE A PREDOMINANTLY RESEARCH ORIENTATION , BUT INDUSTRIAL TAKE-UP MUST BE ENSURED FROM THE BEGINNING , BOTH BY THE COMBINATION OF RESEARCH TOPICS AND BY THE STRUCTURE OF THE PARTICIPATION .
WORK IN THIS AREA WILL ADDRESS :
- IMPROVED MODELS FOR SOFTWARE PRODUCTION AND MAINTENANCE ( WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE COHERENCE OF THE PROCESSES MODELLED ) ; BOTH THE TECHNICAL AND THE MANAGEMENT ASPECTS NEED TO BE ADDRESSED ;
- CONSTRUCTION AND TRANSFORMATION OF REPRESENTATIONS ( INCLUDING AUTOMATIC AND INTERACTIVE PROGRAM SYNTHESIS , WITH SPECIAL ATTENTION FOR GENERIC AND RE-USABLE SOFTWARE AND FOR VALIDATION AND VERIFICATION ) ;
- GENERAL METHODS AND TOOLS FOR APPLICATION DOMAIN ANALYSIS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO CAPTURING OF REQUIREMENTS ;
- HARDWARE/SOFTWARE SYNERGY AND NEW ARCHITECTURES ;
- NON-IMPERATIVE LANGUAGES ;
- CONVERGENCE OF TECHNOLOGIES IN PROGRAM SPECIFICATION , PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION AND DATABASE DESIGN ;
- MEASUREMENT AND MODELLING ;
- QUALITY AND RELIABILITY ;
- EXPERT SYSTEM APPROACHES TO SOFTWARE PRODUCTION AND MAINTENANCE , INVOLVING ACTIVE DATABASES , MANAGEMENT EXPERT SYSTEMS ;
- ADVANCED SUPPORT ENVIRONMENTS AND HUMAN INTERFACING FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHLY DEMANDING APPLICATIONS SUCH AS ADVANCED INFORMATION PROCESSING APPLICATIONS .
TYPE A PROJECT
2.4.1 . ADVANCED INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
THE OBJECTIVES ARE :
- TO INVESTIGATE THE POSSIBILITY OF DEVELOPING AN APPROACH WHICH BEGINS TO INTEGRATE THE RIGOUR OF THE " SOFTWARE ENGINEERING " APPROACH AND THE FLEXIBILITY OF THE EXPERIMENTAL AND " THROWAWAY " STYLE OF SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT EXEMPLIFIED BY KNOWLEDGE PROCESSING WORK ;
- TO PROVIDE AN ENVIRONMENT SUPPORTING THIS FORMAL INTERACTIVE STYLE OF PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT . THIS ENVIRONMENT SHOULD PROVIDE INTEGRATED SUPPORT FOR EXISTING LANGUAGES AND METHODS OF SEVERAL CLASSES ( FUNCTIONAL , LOGIC , OBJECT-ORIENTED . . . ) ;
- TO PROVIDE APPROPRIATE INTERFACES TO ENSURE EFFECTIVE INTERWORKING BETWEEN THIS ENVIRONMENT AND THE INITIAL COMMON TOOL ENVIRONMENT ( SEE 2.3.1 ABOVE ) ;
- TO PROVIDE FACILITIES FOR RAPID INCORPORATION OF FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS IN DIFFERENT