Trends in Software Engineering a personal view

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Trends in Software Engineeringa personal view

• Ivar Jacobson
• Vice President e-Development
• Rational Software Corporation
• ivar_at_rational.com

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Virtual Agenda

• Yesterday
• Today
• Tomorrow
• The best way to predict the future is to invent
  it!

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The 1980 Letter to The CEO of Ericsson
Björn Svedberg

• The component-based development approach used for
  AKE/AXE will evolve into a world standard
• Go further in three steps
• 1983 present a standard method including a
  modeling language like SDL, UML, a process
  like RUP supported by a first generation
  tool-set
• 1985 the modeling language becomes a formal
  executable language like UML with action
  semantics
• 1990 expert system support on top of process,
  language and tool talked about layman
  programming

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Component-Based Architectures

• Originated 1967-70 at Ericsson
• for real-time, distributed systems
• blocks a k o components,
• design
• code
• executables
• run-time objects
• interfaces based on signals,
• functions crossed blocks -- or realized as
  collaborations among blocks
• Components have become the standard.
• No new development paradigm to replace components
  in sight!

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Modeling Languages -- a personal view

• 1967-70 The AKE/AXE modeling language
• block diagrams
• collaboration diagrams
• sequence diagrams
• state transition diagrams (state overviews,
  activity diagrams, concurrent states)
• 1974-82 the first object modeling standard SDL
  adopts those techniques
• nicknamed The Ericsson Language
• In parallel Entity-Relationship modeling emerged
• 1987 Objectory modeling language combined SDL
  and ER technologies, added Use Cases and
  Multi-Modeling.
• 1996 The Unified Modeling Language
• based on Objectory, Booch and OMT from 1991
• plus many other modeling ideas
• The standard modeling language
• UML 2.0 a major new release, followed by more...

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Development Process -- a personal view

• 1967-70 The AKE/AXE method
• functional specs
• software architecture description
• functional descrs, block descriptions, separate
  from interface (signal) descriptions
• functional tests and system test
• 1987-95 The Objectory Process
• engineered process to facilitate specializations
  and instantiations (projects)
• use cases drive the business track, the system
  track and the user track
• 1996-2000 The Rational Unified Process
• iterative development
• architecture-centric
• tool support for process engineering and process
  instantiations
• de-facto standard for e-development
• Plus a process without integral tools is just an
  academic idea!

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Future of Software

• We have the standard modeling language
• We have a standard development process
• What next?
• A Software Component Marketplace
• Quality from the Beginning
• Give Soul to Software Process
• A Complete UML Based Software Platform

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A Software Component Marketplace

• A component industry including
• Component factories provide components
• System Integrators reuse these components
• Components are component systems used to build
  families of application systems
• We need a standard for playing on this
  marketplace
• How to design for reuse
• How to design with reuse
• We have a standard language, we have a standard
  process and there are tools.
• Nows the time!

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Reuseable Assets

• Reuse of all models, that is of everything
• architecture -- most important but just a
  fraction of what is reusable
• use cases, analysis, design, implementation and
  test
• user interface models, business models, etc.
• Reuse of technology
• process with tools
• projects
• guidelines

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The Reuse Initiative e-Development Accelerator
ReusableFrameworks
Technology or domain specific reusable assets
with associated guidelines on usage.
Reuse Standards
Open UML-based standard expressing how to
document and produce reusable assets.
Automation
Tool support for creating, managing, and reusing
software assets.
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Layered System Architecture
Examples of reusable object
Car Sales Management
Application-specific layer
Customer profileOrder management
Application-general layer
Shopping cartCredit card authorization
Middleware layer
System-software layer
Object persistency mechanism
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Quality from the Beginning

• We have lost two generations of developers who
  think they just need to debug at the end, when
  they instead shouldnt introduce any defects
  along the way.
• An attitude problem
• bugs are nice, defects are bad
• some developers make the dirt, others
  (customers) clean up
• Process change
• verify and test along the way -- activity-based
  verification
• there is no test model, test artifacts are part
  of all models
• New tools
• generate test cases from requirements, analysis,
  design...

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Activity-Based Verification

• Whatever you do, you are not done until you have
  verified that you did what you wanted to do.
• Introduce verification on activities
• Each activity-artifact pair needs a Verification
  Case
• Each Verification Case has a corresponding
  Verification Step
• Test Cases are specializations of Verification
  Cases, related to the executable system

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Software Process Comes Alive

• Development steps
• The process at your fingertips
• The process gets soul
• the third step 20 years ago
• a software engineering breakthrough technology

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The Process at Your Fingertips
Rational Unified Process (RUP)
Is specialized to
My Unified Process
Is enacted as
My Project
And to
My tasks
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Process gets soul people may be humans

• Traditional processes hold static rules and
  regulations, but lacks soul and adaptive
  capabilities. They appeal to structured
  reasoning, but not to the creative (lateral)
  spirit.

Structured Re-Invent Generic Long-Term Learn
Creative Reuse Streamlined and Personalized Short-
Term Do
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Agents

• Software Components, but
• Autonomous
• Pro-Active
• Encapsulate Knowledge as Rules
• Adaptive

Agent (in software)
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Each Developer has its Own Personal Agent
Agent System
Personal Agent (for Joe)
Joe (Developer)

• Individuals play roles in software development

www.jaczone.com
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Every Role in RUP is Matched to One Agent
Agent System
Role Agent (for System Analyst)
System Analyst
www.jaczone.com
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Personal Agents and Role Agents
Agent System
Role Agent (for System Analyst)
Joe (Developer)
Personal Agent (for Joe)
Role Agent (for Business-Process Analyst)

• Since a developer can play many roles his/her
  personal agent may collaborate with several role
  agents

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Specialist Agents

• Rule agents
• Reuse agents suggest candidate patterns,
  frameworks, etc
• Workflow agents suggest micro-activities based on
  state
• Conversation agents for conversational modeling
• Model completion agents
• Round-trip modeling agents between all kinds of
  models
• Evaluation agents
• Broker agents

www.jaczone.com
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A Complete UML Based Platform

• An executable UML
• a programming language (or a set of PLs)
• Java, C become superfluous
• combines graphical and program-like syntax
• Semantics of changes -- functional and structural
  -- defined by UML
• language defined configuration and version
  management
• Removing seams (or gaps) between UML and
• operating systems and database mgmt systems
• computer architectures

"Function Distribution in Computer System
Architectures, Harold Bud Lawson, 1976
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Every Layer of Components described in UML

• Systemware components
• operating systems
• database management systems
• Middleware components
• Customer relationship management
• Content management
• Change management
• Application general components
• Subscriber management
• Digit analysis node
• Route data

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Trend Focus moves upwards
Analysis
Req.ts
Impl.
Test
Design
More generationwork elimination
Now
Tomorrow

• Use cases generate test cases and input to
  analysis
• Analysis will generate implementation design
  will become superfluous

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Tomorrow, Life will be Much Better!
Summary

• We have UML, RUP and tools
• Eventually we will get a Component Industry
• We will do things right from the beginning
• Process will get soul -- developers are people
  and people are humans
• We will get rid of seams and gaps between levels

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Readings by Ivar Jacobson

• Unified Software Development ProcessJacobson,
  Booch, Rumbaugh, Addison Wesley Longman (1999)
• Object-Oriented Software Development--A Use Case
  Driven Approach (Addison Wesley)Ivar Jacobson,
  Addison Wesley Longman (1992)
• The Object Advantage Business Process
  Reengineering with Objects (Addison Wesley)Ivar
  Jacobson, Addison Wesley Longman (1994)
• Software Reuse Architecture, Process and
  Organization for Business Success (Addison
  Wesley) Ivar Jacobson, Addison Wesley Longman
  (1997)
• The Road to the Unified Software Development
  Process Ivar Jacobson, Stefan Bylund, Cambridge
  University Press, 2000

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Special readings

• Software Reuse Architecture, Process and
  Organization for Business Success (Addison
  Wesley) Ivar Jacobson, Addison Wesley Longman
  (1997)
• Function Distribution in Computer System
  Architectures, Harold Bud Lawson (1976)