Tom Strelich
ABSTRACT
The Software Life Cycle Support Environment (SLCSE) is a VAX/VMS-based software development environment framework which presents a common and consistent user interface accessing a comprehensive set of software development tools supporting the full spectrum of DOD-STD-2 167A software life cycle activities from Requirements Analysis to Maintenance. These tools utilize a Project Database which maintains information relevant not only to the software under development (e.g., requirements allocation, software interfaces, etc.), but also information relating to the project as a whole (e.g., schedules, milestones, Quality Assurance, Configuration Management, etc.). The Project Database supports the DOD-STD-2167A life cycle model and associated Data Item Descriptions (DIDs). SLCSE's framework approach supports the integration of new tools into the environment and permits the SLCSE to evolve over time and adapt to advances in software engineering technology.
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Index Terms
- The Software Life Cycle Support Environment (SLCSE): a computer based framework for developing software systems
Recommendations
The Software Life Cycle Support Environment (SLCSE): a computer based framework for developing software systems
Special issue: Proceedings of the ACM SIGSOFT/SIGPLAN software engineering symposium on practical software development environmentsThe Software Life Cycle Support Environment (SLCSE) is a VAX/VMS-based software development environment framework which presents a common and consistent user interface accessing a comprehensive set of software development tools supporting the full ...
The Software Life Cycle Support Environment (SLCSE): a computer based framework for developing software systems
Special issue: Proceedings of the ACM SIGSOFT/SIGPLAN software engineering symposium on practical software development environmentsThe Software Life Cycle Support Environment (SLCSE) is a VAX/VMS-based software development environment framework which presents a common and consistent user interface accessing a comprehensive set of software development tools supporting the full ...
Software Life Cycle Management: Weapons Process Developer
This paper describes weapon system software life cycle management from a contractor perspective. Four procurement strategies-each requiring two or more-contracts-are examined and their impact on the contractor and the software process are described.
Reviews
James Dennis Kiper
Tom Strelich gives an overview and technical description of “The Software Life Cycle Support Environment” (SLCSE), a software development environment that includes integrated tools, a project information database, and a uniform user interface. This environment is not especially innovative, but seems to be an industrial-strength implementation of existing ideas in software development environments. The intended audiences for this product are DoD industries, particularly the Air Force. Strelich describes three primary components of SLCSE: the user interface, the integrated tool set, and the project information repository. The user interface is a windowed, menuing environment which is built with two tools: Winnie, to support windows, and MOO (Menu Operations Organizer). SLCSE does not yet support X-windows or a mouse since these are not generally available among the primary user groups. User roles that give access to role-specific tools are defined. Strelich describes the extensive tool set component-by-component. The tools supported range from management-oriented to programming support tools. He describes the support for integrating new and existing tools. The languages SLCSE supports are those used by DoD: Ada, Jovial J73, FORTRAN, and COBOL. The project information database is designed to contain project management information as well as the software itself. An entity/relationship model has been developed to meet the DoD-STD-2167A Life Cycle. (The paper includes a portion of an E/R diagram. Its meaning is obscured by the many acronyms and by its incompleteness. It must have been included to prove that the database has an underlying E/R model.) Strelich seems to have done an adequate job of describing the components of SLCSE. After reading this paper, I have a good understanding of the purpose of the system and an overview of the implementation techniques used. The motivations for various design decisions are described well. The primary shortcoming of this paper is that it reads like an advertisement. The paper is by no means a critical review of SLCSE. It contains no comparisons to other direct competitors in this market. Given Strelich's position as an employee of General Research Corporation, the developer of SLCSE, this perspective is understandable.
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