Lecture 07 Software Tools and Environments

Programming environments
Simply stated, a programming environment is the collection of tools used in software
development. It is a system which supports a activities in writing programs, such as editing,
compiling, linking and debugging.
The usefulness of a programming environment for programmers largely depends on the type
of software system being developed and the programming language applied.
In the following section we will look at two distinct types of programming environments:
Command-line and Integrated Development Environments:

A. Command-line Environments
A command-line environment is a collection of commands that can be typed in to edit files,
compile source code, and run programs. The command-line programming environment
enjoys the greatest degree of configurability as one can access any options that are available
in the program unlike the IDE counterpart.
However, this control comes with an ease-of-use penalty and one has to put in a lot of effort
to learn and practice.
Use of the command-line can be simplified when one makes use of scripts and batch files.
The commonest example of this is Unix programming.

B. Integrated Development Environments (IDE)

An IDE is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to the programmer
for software development i.e. the programmer need not apply tools manually. For instance
IDE’s provide flexibility in that one can execute and debug a program during an editing
session even when the program is incomplete.
Together with a user interface, an IDE normally consists of:
 a text or source code editor
 a compiler and/or an interpreter
 build automation tools
 a debugger
 GUI
IDEs are designed to maximize programmer productivity by providing tightly-knit
components with similar user interfaces, however, because an IDE is by its very nature a
complicated piece of software, this high productivity only occurs after a lengthy learning
process.
They are usually dedicated to a specific programming language. However, there are some
multiple-language IDEs in use, such as Microsoft Visual Studio, the open source cross-
platform Eclipse and KDevelop, e.t.c. Others include Borland JBuilder, DreamWeaver.
Software Engineering Tools

Tools allow repetitive, well-defined actions to be automated, thus reducing the cognitive load
on the software engineer. They provide automated or semi-automated support for the process
and the methods. The engineer is then free to concentrate on the creative aspects of the
process. Tools are often designed to support particular methods, reducing any administrative
load associated with applying the method manually. Like methods, they are intended to make
development more systematic, and they vary in scope from supporting individual tasks to
encompassing the complete life cycle.
Software Engineering tools can be classified according to the different phases in a software
process:

Software Requirements Tools

These are tools that are useful for dealing with software requirements. They have been
classified into two categories: modeling and traceability tools.
 Requirements modeling tools. These tools are used for eliciting, analyzing, specifying,
and validating software requirements
 Requirement traceability tools. These tools are especially important for complex
software which requires a system for tracing the requirements to other work products.
They are thus also relevant in other life cycle processes.

Software Design Tools

Software Design tools are tools used to create and check software designs. They are usually
diagramming tools.

Software Construction Tools

These tools are used to produce and translate a high level program representation (such as
source code) into machine readable code to enable machine execution.
 Editors. These tools are used for the creation and modification of programs, and
possibly the documents associated with them. They can be general-purpose text or
document editors, or they can be specialized for a target language.
 Compilers and code generators. Traditionally, compilers have been non-interactive
translators of source code, but there has been a trend to integrate compilers and
program editors to provide integrated programming environments.
 Interpreters. These tools provide software execution through emulation. They can
support software construction activities by providing a more controllable and
observable environment for program execution.
 Debuggers. These tools are considered a separate category since they support the
software construction process, but they are different from program editors and
compilers.
Software Testing Tools
These tools are important in the software testing phase and also the maintenance phase as
they enable testing of products by; generation, execution, evaluation or management of tests.
 Test generators. These tools assist in the development of test cases.
 Test execution frameworks. These tools enable the execution of test cases in a controlled
environment where the behavior of the object under test is observed.
 Test evaluation tools. These tools support the assessment of the results of test execution,
helping to determine whether or not the observed behavior conforms to the expected
behavior.
 Test management tools. These tools provide support for all aspects of the software
testing process.
 Performance analysis tools. These tools are used for measuring and analyzing software
performance, which is a specialized form of testing where the goal is to assess
performance behavior rather than functional behavior (correctness).

Software Configuration Management Tools

Tools for configuration management have been divided into three categories: tracking,
version management, and release tools.
 Defect, enhancement, issue, and problem-tracking tools. These tools are used in
connection with the problem-tracking issues associated with a particular software
product.
 Version management tools. These tools are involved in the management of multiple
versions of a product.
 Release and build tools. These tools are used to manage the tasks of software release and
build. The category includes installation tools which have become widely used for
configuring the installation of software products.
Tool Integration Mechanisms
Tool integration is important for making individual tools co-operate. Typical kinds of tool
integration are presentation, process, data, and control.
 Presentation integration: The goal of presentation integration is to improve the efficiency
and effectiveness of the user’s interaction with the environment by reducing his cognitive
load.
 Data integration: The goal of data integration is to ensure that all the information in the
environment is managed as a consistent whole, regardless of how parts of it are operated
on and transformed.
The approach seeks to store all process artifacts in a repository – a common data
representation for artifacts that different tools can use to communicate with each other.
 Control integration: The goal of control integration is to allow the flexible combination
of an environment’s functions, according to project preferences and driven by the
underlying processes the environment supports.
 Process integration: The goal of process integration is to ensure that tools interact
effectively in support of a defined process.
CASE Tools
When tools are integrated so that information created by one tool can be used by another, a
system for the support of software development, called computer-aided software engineering,
is established. CASE combines software, hardware, and a software engineering database (a
repository containing important information about analysis, design, program construction,
and testing) to create a software engineering environment analogous to CAD/CAE
(computer-aided design/engineering) for hardware.
Examples of CASE tools include:
• Graphical editors for system model development
• Data dictionary to manage design entities
• Graphical UI builder for user interface construction
• Debuggers to support program fault finding
• Automated translators to generate new versions of a program

Case classification helps us understand the different types of CASE tools and their support
for process activities from different perspectives:
 Functional perspective: Tools are classified according to their specific function
(See Table1)
 Process perspective: Tools are classified according to process activities that are supported
(See Figure 1)
 Integration perspective: Tools are classified according to their organisation into integrated
units

Table 1: Functional Classification of CASE Tools [Sommerville 8th Ed]

Tool type Examples
Planning tools PERT tools, estimation tools, spreadsheets
Editing tools Text editors, diagram editors, word processors
Change management tools Requirements traceability tools, change control
systems
Configuration management tools Version management systems, system building tools
Prototyping tools Very high-level languages, user interface generators
Method-support tools Design editors, data dictionaries, code generators
Language-processing tools Compilers, interpreters
Program analysis tools Cross reference generators, static analysers, dynamic
analysers
Testing tools Test data generators, file comparators
Debugging tools Interactive debugging systems
Documentation tools Page layout programs, image editors
Re-engineering tools Cross-reference systems, program re-structuring
systems
Reengineering tools

Testing tools

Debugging tools

Program analysis tools

Language-processing
tools

Method support tools

Prototyping tools

Configuration
management tools

Change management tools

Documentation tools

Editing tools

Planning tools

Specification Design Implementation Verification

and
Validation
Figure 1: Activity based classification of CASE Tools
Further Reading
Sommerville, I., Software Engineering, 8th ed., Pearson, 2006.
Pressman, Roger S., Software Engineering-A Practitioner’s Approach, 5th ed., McGraw-Hill,
2001.