Table Of ContentApproaches
P~Stotyping
Edited by
R. Budde K. Kuhlenkamp
L. Mathiassen H. Züllighoven
With 83 Figures
Springer-Verlag
Berlin Heidelberg NewYork Tokyo
1984
Reinhard Budde
Karin Kuhlenkamp
Lars Mathiassen
Heinz Züllighoven
Gesellschaft für Mathematik
und Datenverarbeitung mbH (GMD) Bonn
Postfach 1240
SchloB Birlinghoven, 0-5205 St. Augustin 1
DEJD Proceedings of the Working Conference on Prototyping.
Namur, October 1983
BDB
Sponsored by the Commission ol the European Communi
ties, organized by Gesel/schaft für Mathematik und Daten
verarbeitung mbH Bonn (GMD) and the National Computing
IACMI01 Centre LId Manchester (NCC), in co-operation with ACM
SERCI German Chapter, Gesel/schaft lür Inlormatik e.V., and the
UK Science and Engineering Research Council.
ISBN-13: 978-3-540-13490-9 e-ISBN-13: 978-3-642-69796-8
OOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-69796-8
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part ol the
material is concerned, specilically those ol translation, reprinting, re-use ol iIIustrations,
broadcasting, reproduction by photocopying machine or similar means, and storage in data
banks. Under § 54 ol the German Copyright Law where copies are made lor other than private
use, a lee is payable to Verwertungsgesellschaft Wort, Munich.
© by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1984
The use ol registered nam es, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the
absence ol a specific statement, that such nam es are exempt Irom the relevant protective laws
and regulations and therelore Iree lor general use.
2145/3140-543210
APPROACHES TO PROTOTYPING: An Introduction
"This conference will focus on the user-oriented development of information systems.
Against a background of recent concepts for the implementation of distributed systems
based on workstation computers, various communicational, organizational and social
issues gain increasing importance in the construct ion of computer based information
systems. There is an urgent need to integrate end-users and other affected groups
into the development process. New strategies for system development are thus needed."
This was the beginning of the Call for Papers to the Working Conference on
Prototyping. Working in the fields of user-oriented software construct ion and the
analysis of communication problems between developers and users we, that is the GMD
team involved in this conference and in preparing its Proceedings, sooner or later
came across various new concepts to overcome the problems sketched above. Concepts
focusing on the quick construct ion of an operative system such as "rapid prototyping"
or concepts aiming at the human and organizational side of the development process
such as "Systemeering". Even on a second look, the multitude of different approaches,
terms and tools still caused confusion. But despite the differences every concept
seemed to have something to do with "Prototyping". This, however, proved to be of
little help to us, because the term "Prototyping" itself turned out to be quite
"fuzzy".
In this obviously confused situation we decided that it was time for a working con
ference. As everyone who ever tried to organize one knows well, this was no easy
task: there are no "big names", few experts and few well-established methods, tools,
experiences, etc. To make a long story short, today we feel that we succeeded and
that the conference was beneficial to all participants. Can there be a better justi
fication for publishing the major contributions?
In order to give a flavour of the special character of this conference we will
ou~line the procedure of selecting and preparing the various papers.
Af ter the initial Call for Papers nearly fifty extended abstracts were sent in. The
Programme Committee asked about thirty authors to provide a full paper for further
considerations. The abstracts were assigned to four theme areas:
Prototyping and Database Systems Design
Very High Level Languages for Prototyping
Prototyping: Concepts, Tools, Experience
System Development and Prototyping
Nearly all authors asked returned a full paper. Again, all papers were reviewed and a
preliminary programme was set up. All authors received recommendations for revision
to their papers and the Preprints for conference were based on the next version of
papers. All papers were presented at the conference, either in plenary sessions or in
working groups which were organized according to the four theme areas. These theme
areas are also reflected in the structure of this publication despite the fact that
it is obviously impossible to make a sharp distinction bet ween the individual topics.
In line with the character of the conference, each author was asked to review his or
her paper in the light of the discussions at the conference; most authors have
provided a substantially revised paper. These final versions together with the
reports of the working groups form the backbone of the Proceedings.
In addition, there are Bill Riddle's invited paper and Christiane Floyd's introduc
tion to the conference which gives a conceptual framework based on the discussions
and contributions of the Programme Committee. Both papers had a specific impact on
the conference: the introductory paper was reflected in many presentations and dis
cussions and may be regarded as a guideline to the concepts and aspects of
prototyping, while Bill Riddle's paper reflects an advanced view on ways and means of
prototyping.
In order to simplify the various update procedures and to unify the "lay-out" all
text material was stored in our word processing system and nearly all graphics were
re-drawo. We also offered the opportunity of "brushing up" the English style and
phrasing of contributions from authors who do not have English as their nature lan
guage. But anyhow, may nobody be offended by any distortions of the English language
(this statement is recursive).
Looking at the outcome of the conference on various levels, I feel that it was worth
the effort of all the people involved. The conference itself provided a platform for
interesting presentations and stimulating discussions, and we hope that the con
ference and these Proceedings will have contributed to achieving our initial aim: a
better understanding of the user-oriented development of information systems.
I will not end this introduction by uttering a few standard phrases of thanks to all
those etc., etc. Instead I hope that everyone reading this book and the following
list of acknowledgments will realize and appreciate the amount of work done in order
to prepare this publication.
Heinz Züllighoven
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
SPONSORS:
The Commission of the European Communities
Gesellschaft für Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung mbH Bonn (GMD)
The National Computing Centre Ltd Manchester (NCC)
ACM German Chapter
Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V.
The UK Science and Engineering Research Council
PROGRAMME COMMITTEE:
Reinhard Budde (GMD)
Christiane Floyd (TU Berlin)
Martin Kersten (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Klaus-Dieter Kreplin (mbp Dortmund)
David Law (NCC)
Lars Mathiassen (University of Aarhus)
Heinrich Christian Mayr (University of Karlsruhe)
Peter Schnupp (InterFace München)
Mike Sykes (ICI Wilmslow)
Hartmut Wedekind (University of Erlangen-Nürnberg)
Manfred Windfuhr (Hoesch Dortmund)
Rob Witty (Rutherford Laboratory Didcot)
Heinz Züllighoven (GMD)
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
Reinhard Budde, Karin Kuhlenkamp, Karl-Heinz Sylla, Heinz Züllighoven
LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS:
Christa Harms (GMD), Dalia Shanni (SDR associated, Bruxelles)
TEXT EOITING:
Ver a Radon, 'Jutta Schäffeler, Gabi Vezzari
STYLISTIC REVISIONS:
David Law, Mike Sykes
GRAPHICS:
Elisabeth Münch
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
OVERVIEW PRESENTATIONS
Floyd, Christiane
A Systematic Look at Prototyping
Riddle, William E.
Advancing the State of the Art in Software System Prototyping 19
WORKING GROUP "PROTOTYPING: CONCEPTS, TOOLS, EXPERIENCES"
Sylla, Karl-Heinz
Summary of the Working Group 27
Papers presented:
Budde, Reinhard; Sylla, Karl-Heinz
From Application Domain Modelling to Target System 31
Budgen, Dave
The Use of Prototyping in the Design of Large Concurrent
Systems 49
Christensen, Niels; Kreplin, Klaus-Dieter
Prototyping of User-Interfaces 58
Dearnley, P. A.; Mayhew, P. J.
On the Use of Software Development Tools in the Construction
of Data Processing System Prototypes 68
Hollinde, Ingrid; Wagner, Karl H.
Experience of Prototyping in Command and Control Information
Systems 80
Livesey, Paul B.
Experience with Prototyping in a Multi National Organization 92
M3yr, H. C.; Bever, M.; Lockemann, P. C.
Prototyping Interactive Application Systems 105
Mönckelileyer, Manfred; Spitta, Thorsten
Concept and Experiences of Prototyping in a
Software-Engineering-Environment with NATURAL 122
Nelson, David A.
A Software Development Environment Emphasizing Rapid
Prototyping 136
x
Parbst, Finn
Experience with Prototyping in an IBM-based Installation 152
ReitenspieB, M.; Merz, G.
Automatic Generation of Prototypes from Formally Specified
Abstract Data Types 165
WORKING GROUP "PROTOTYPING AND DATABASE DESIGN"
Kreplin, Klaus-Dieter
Summary of the Working Group 177
Papers presented:
Aaram, Jarle
The BOP Prototyping Concept 179
Demo, G. B.; Dileva, A.; Giolito, P.
Database Design Prototyping in a CODASYL Environment 188
van Hoeve, F. A.; Engmann, R.
The TUBA-Project: A Set of Tools for Application
Development and Prototyping 202
Lamersdorf, W.; Schmidt, J. W.
Specification and Prototyping of Data Model Semantics 214
Mistrik, Ivan
Prototyping for Real-World Applicability Tests 232
Ortner, E.; Wendler, K.
Prototyping in an Environment Using Several Data
Management Systems 244
WORKING GROUP "SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT AND PROTOTYPING"
Mathiassen, Lars
Summary of the Working Group 255
Papers presented:
Iivari, Juhani
Prototyping in the Context of Information Systems Design 261
XI
Jörgensen, Anker Helms
On the Psychology of Prototyping 278
Comment Papers by:
Naur, Peter 290
Tingley, George Alexander 292
Kammersgaard, John
A Discussion of Prototyping Within a Conceptual Framework 294
Kensing, Finn
Property Determination by Prototyping 322
Nosek, John T.
Organization Design Choices to Facilitate Evolutionary
Development of Prototype Information Systems 341
Rzevski, George
Prototypes versus Pilot Systems: Strategies for Evolutionary
Information System Development 356
Sol, Henk G.
Prototyping: A Methodological Assessment 368
Sorg, Stefan
The Development of Integrated Office Information Systems
Within the Framework of Trialog-oriented Processes 383
WORKING GROUP "VERY HIGH LEVEL LANGUAGES FOR PROTOTYPING"
Budde, Reinhard
Summary of the Workjng Group 393
Papers presented:
Kruchten, Philippe; Schonberg, Edmond
The Ada/Ed System: A Large-Scale Experiment in Software
Prototyping Using SETL. 398
Comment Papers by:
Godbersen, Heinrich P. 416
Schnupp, Peter 418
Leibrandt, Ute; Schnupp, Peter
An Evaluation of Prolog as a Prototyping System. 424
Tavolato, paul; Vincena, Karl
A Prototyping Methodology and its Tool 434
Venken, Raf; Bruynooghe, Maurice
Pro log as a Language for Prototyping of Information Systems 447
A SYSTEMATIC LOOK AT PROTOTYPING
Christiane Floyd
Institut für Angewandte Informatik
TU BerLin Sekr. SWT FRS-6
FrankLinstr. 28/29
1000 BerL in 10
West-Germany
Contributors:
M. Kersten, K.O. KrepLin,
L. Mathiassen, H.C. Mayr,
P. Schnupp, J.M. Sykes, K.-H. SyLla,
H. Wedekind, H. Züll ighoven
Contents
Introduction
2 Characterization of Prototyping
3 Approaches to Prototypin~-
4 Techniques and Tools for Prototyping
5 The Impact of Prototyping: Oangers and Potential Benefits
6 Afterthoughts
1. Introduction
This paper originates from a series of discussions between programme committee
members during the preparation of the Working Conference on Prototyping. While trying
to define the topic of the conference, it became clear to us that we each held our
own viewpoint on the subject. Views differed as to the specific use of terminology as
well as the application-oriented emphasis on particular strategies, and so did our
judgements about the potential usefulness of prototyping. The views did not, however,
seem contradictory but rather complementary.
