Next-generation Viewpoint-based Environments 1 Viewpoint-based Environments

This paper discusses the notion of, and outlines requirements for Viewpoint-based Environments. These are next-generation CASE environments, which support the speciication of requirements from multiple perspectives or so-called viewpoints. Requirements for such environments are mainly concerned with the detection and management of interference between viewpoints. Viewpoint-based Environments should also support the cooperation of multiple developers and maintain development histories in terms of multiple viewpoint versions. We brieey sketch an architecture for such environments and outline a research agenda for developing them. It has been widely recognised that a software development method that is appropriate for a particular software process might prove disastrous if it is applied to another process. A classical information system might best be deened using an entity relationship approach. A database schema can be generated from the entity relationship model and a fourth generation language might be used to implement forms and reports. A safety-critical real-time system, in contrast, must not be developed in this way. It will require a formal speciication to be deened, for instance in Z 7], and its implementation should partially be proven against this formal speciication. As we will not be able to suggest a method mix that can be used in any development method, the need arises to support the design of development methods and their integration into a method mix that is tailored towards particular processes. The Viewpoint framework as discussed in 4, 5] have been dedicated to this problem. Viewpoints are deened as a loosely-coupled, locally managed object encapsulating representation knowledge, development process knowledge and partial speciication knowledge about a system and its domain. Viewpoints are structured into ve slots: