sofware engineering case tools

Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE), in the field of Software Engineering is the scientific application of a set of tools and methods to a software which is meant to result in high-quality, defect-free, and maintainable software products.[1] It also refers to methods for the development of information systems together with automated tools that can be used in the software .The term "Computer-aided software engineering" (CASE) can refer to the software used for the automated development of systems software, i.e., computer code. The CASE functions include analysis, design, and programming. CASE tools automate methods for designing, documenting, and producing structured computer code in the desired programming language.[3]
Two key ideas of Computer-aided Software System Engineering (CASE) are:[4]
the harboring of computer assistance in software development and or software maintenance processes, and
An engineering approach to the software development and or maintenance.
Some typical CASE tools are:
Configuration management tools
Data modeling tools
Model transformation tools
Program transformation tools
Refactoring tools
Source code generation tools, and
Unified Modeling Language
Many CASE tools not only output code but also generate other output typical of various systems analysis and design methodologies such as
data flow diagram
entity relationship diagram
logical schema
Program specification
SSADM.


CASE tools
CASE tools are a class of software that automates many of the activities involved in various life cycle phases. For example, when establishing the functional requirements of a proposed application, prototyping tools can be used to develop graphic models of application screens to assist end users to visualize how an application will look after development. Subsequently, system designers can use automated design tools to transform the prototyped functional requirements into detailed design documents. Programmers can then use automated code generators to convert the design documents into code. Automated tools can be used collectively, as mentioned, or individually. For example, prototyping tools could be used to define application requirements that get passed to design technicians who convert the requirements into detailed designs in a traditional manner using flowcharts and narrative documents, without the assistance of automated design software.[7]
Existing CASE Environments can be classified along 4 different dimensions :
Life-Cycle Support
Integration Dimension
Construction Dimension
Knowledge Based CASE dimension [8]
Let us take the meaning of these dimensions along with their examples one by one :
Life-Cycle Based CASE Tools
This dimension classifies CASE Tools on the basis of the activities they support in the information systems life cycle. They can be classified as Upper or Lower CASE tools.
Upper CASE Tools: support strategic, planning and construction of conceptual level product and ignore the design aspect. They support traditional diagrammatic languages such as ER diagrams, Data flow diagram, Structure charts etc.
Lower CASE Tools: concentrate on the back end activities of the software life cycle and hence support activities like physical design, debugging, construction, testing, integration of software components, maintenance, reengineering and reverse engineering activities.

References

1. ^ Kuhn, D.L (1989). "Selecting and effectively using a computer aided software engineering tool". Annual Westinghouse computer symposium; 6-7 Nov 1989; Pittsburgh, PA (USA); DOE Project.
2. ^ P.Loucopoulus and V. Karakostas. System Requirement Engineering.
3. ^ CASE definition In: Telecom Glossary 2000. Retrieved 26 Oct 2008.
4. ^ K. Robinson (1992). Putting the Software Engineering into CASE. New York : John Wiley and Sons Inc.
5. ^ “AD/Cycle strategy and architecture,” IBM Systems Journal, Vol 29, NO 2, 1990; page 172
6. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Alfonso Fuggetta (December 1993). "A classification of CASE technology". Computer 26 (12): 25-38. doi:10.1109/2.247645. http://www2.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/abs/mags/co/1993/12/rz025abs.htm. Retrieved on 03-14-2009.
7. ^ ^{a b c d e} Software Development Techniques. In: FFIEC InfoBase. Retrieved 26 Oct 2008.
8. ^ Software Engineering : Tools, Principles and Techniques by Sangeeta Sabharwal, Umesh Publications
9. ^ Evans R. Rock. Case Analyst Workbenches : A Detailed Product Evaluation. Volume 1 pp 229-242 by