Integration of the execution support system for the Computer-Aided Prototyping System (CAPS)

Abstract

With the rapidly falling cost of computer hardware continuing to drive software expenses up, attention has turned to ways to effect savings. One approach that shows particular promise is rapid prototyping. Rapid prototyping is the use of executable models of a software system to firm up the requirements before a significant amount of time and effort has been invested in implementation. The computer aided prototyping system (CAPS) is a rapid prototyping system that automates many of the manual processes of prototyping, thus allowing for quicker prototype construction and even further cost savings. Within CAPS there exists an execution support system. The purpose of the execution support system is to take the description of a prototype written in the prototyping language PSDL and to convert this into an executable prototype which can then be shown to the user. Previous research resulted in separate implementations for the components of the execution support system, but these components were never integrated into a functioning system. It is the development of this tool which is the subject of this thesis.