SDA: a novel approach to software environment design and construction

The Software Designer´s Associate (SDA) is a workstation-based collection of tools which support the description, evaluation, and comparison of software system architectural designs and cooperation among, and management of, a team of software designers. Each SDA is a specific instance of a generic facility which supports a team member´s design activities, cooperation among team members, and overall team management. It provides a framework for the integration of tools supporting the use of various notations within the context of a particular set of technical and managerial methods. These tools, notations, and methods may be adapted to support the needs of a particular project or the habits of an individual developer by selecting the particular tools to be added to the generic facility. The authors describe the concept of SDAs and the cooperative, international project which is intended to lend to its realization