Showing papers by "Peter F. Linington published in 2001"

Tool support for development using patterns

Abstract: There has been a growing interest in recent years in the use of abstract building blocks in system specification. Designs based on patterns and communities are two examples. However, these structures are then refined further during design and implementation, and it is often difficult to determine whether the eventual system implementation is a faithful reflection of the original properties of the pattern specified. This is particularly true of patterns used to describe an enterprise view of the system. The paper concentrates on the behavioural aspects of pattern specification, and investigates the way that observation of the system can be interpreted to check that properties of the pattern specification are preserved. It describes a diagnostic tool that checks the actual system behaviour against the pattern specification, and discusses the requirements this places on the form of the specification language and a number of the problems of interpretation that arise in applying such tools.

Specification and Implementation in ODP

Abstract: ODP specifications are normally produced as one step in the process of planning and implementing real systems, but the detailed sequence of events differs depending on the methodology and intended scope of the specification. This can lead to divergences of opinion about how specifications are to be interpreted. This paper reviews some of the issues and argues that there need not be a problem if ODP specifications are interpreted in terms of a flexible conformance architecture. It looks at the interplay between specification and testing, and reviews the conformance aspects of the RM-ODP to see how it is able to provide the necessary flexibility for the creation of long-lived and reusable enterprise specifications.

Permabase: predicting the performance of distributed systems at the design stage

Abstract: The paper describes the Permabase project, funded by BT, which produced prototypes to predict software performance automatically at the systems design stage. It discusses the Permabase rationale and describes the architecture and details of the prototype systems and its validation using case studies. It discusses the use of UML as a mechanism for capturing the information needed for performance prediction modelling, and shows how translation makes it possible to produce simulation models. It reviews the achievements of the project and looks forward to ways in which the work could be enhanced and built on to encompass a greater range of systems.