Design specification in Japan: tree-structured charts

The authors describe a novel design specification method, the tree-structured chart, that has been accepted widely in Japan because it improves productivity and quality. Tree-structured charts use representations of basic programming structures, such as sequence, selection, and iteration, as elements. The support environment then generates source code in many languages automatically. A design specification in a tree-structured chart is considered a program, so these charts will eventually replace conventional programming languages, thus raising the description level of programs. The authors present four design languages based on tree-structured charts: the Hierarchical and Compact Description chart, the Problem Analysis Diagram, the Structured Programming Diagram, and Yet Another Control Chart II. They also summarize their support environments, which incorporate many computer-aided software engineering (CASE) techniques.<>