An Architecture of Process-centered Context-aware Software Development Environment

Software development is considered to be a kind of collaborative activity now. In this paper, we first analyze the software development activity using activity theory, and highlight its collaborative features. We then propose an architecture of process-centered context-aware software development environment, CASDE, which fully considers the key elements of PCSDEs, especially the context element. The supportive and integrated nature of the environment is emphasized in CASDE. As illustrated in activity theory, the architecture can support the three levels of collaboration, i.e., co-ordinated, co-operative, and co-constructive level. In particular, the co-operative level is supported sufficiently by the introduction of context model and context process mechanism. Based on the architecture, the software development activity can be more collaborative and quality of software system can be improved