Extending design environments to software architecture design

Domain-oriented design environments are cooperative problem-solving systems that support designers in complex design tasks. We present the facilities and architecture of Argo, a domain-oriented design environment for software architecture. Argo´s architecture is motivated by the desire to achieve reuse and extensibility of the design environment. It separates domain-neutral code from domain-oriented code, which is distributed among intelligent design materials as opposed to being centralized in the design environment. Argo´s facilities are motivated by the observed cognitive needs of designers. These facilities extend previous work in design environments to support reflection-in-action, opportunistic design, and comprehension and problem-solving