A language translator for a computer aided rapid prototyping system

Abstract

While the cost of computing hardware has decreased steadily, the cost of software design, development and, maintenance has increased. One approach to reduce the cost of software development is rapid prototyping. Further, it has been proposed to combine the design strategy of rapid prototyping with a computer aided software prototyping system. Such a system would allow the software designer to employ a software base of reusable program modules. It would assist in prototyping and would automate a large part of the development effort. An important component of the automation would be a language translator facility. This translator would allow the designer to develop a software prototype in a high level specification language which would be simple and convenient to use and would translate the specification statements into an executable software language. This thesis demonstrates the feasibility of using a language translator by developing a prototype translator for a computer aided software prototyping system. The translator is written in Attribute Grammar (AG) language and translates software specifications stated in the Prototype System Description Language (PSDL) into computer executable code in the Ada language