The Tailor is a research tool for refining and evaluating a design representation for software systems that have a high degree of textual and graphical interaction. The design representation incorporates both software engineering and knowledge engineering techniques, providing a set of conventions for describing software design information and software construction knowledge. The Tailor demonstrates that the design representation, when embedded in a productivity tool, overcomes limitations of current generation user interface tools. For example, the Tailor has the capability to foresee construction difficulties arising from earlier design decisions. It uses this capability to provide active guidance in producing a software design that avoids problems otherwise overlooked during software specification and design.
Software design representation: Analysis and Improvements
