In this paper, we consider the use of ontologies as a basis for structuring and simplifying the process of constructing domain-specific problemsolving tools. We focus specifically on the task of scheduling. Though there is commonality in scheduling system requirements and design at several levels across application domains, different scheduling environments invariably present different challenges (e.g., different dominating constraints, different objectives, different domain structure, different sources of uncertainty, etc.), and hence we can expect high-performance application systems to require customized solutions. Unfortunately, the time and cost associated with such domain-specific system development at present is typically quite large. Our work toward overcoming this application construction bottleneck has led to the development of OZONE, a toolkit for configuring constraint-based scheduling systems. A central component of OZONE is its scheduling ontology, which defines a reusabl...

As the application of computer technology continues to proliferate and diversify, the identification and understanding of application domains is becoming increasingly important to software development methodologies. Domain analysis techniques have been developed to accumulate and formalize the knowledge necessary for successful software reuse. These techniques have been shown to be useful, but suffer from defining the domain too restrictively, burying important relationships deep in domain taxonomies, and prohibiting flexible identification of domains with common issues. Techniques are needed that dynamically detect recurring patterns of activities in development projects. This paper presents a method for developing and refining the knowledge and experience accumulated by a development organization so it can learn from previous efforts. A case-based repository of project experiences supports the re-use and refinement of domain knowledge to reduce duplicate effort, build on successful e...

Domain engineering aims to support systematic reuse, focusing on modeling common knowledge in a problem domain. Ontologies have also been pointed as holding great promise for software reuse. In this paper, we present ODE (Ontology-based Domain Engineering), an ontological approach for domain engineering that aims to join ontologies and object-oriented technology.

: Researchers and practitioners are looking for systematic ways of comparing domain analysis (DA) methods and related technologies such as systems modeling. Less attention has been paid to comparing DA methods in terms of certain core methodological issues, including problems of scoping, contextualizing, descriptive vs. prescriptive modeling, and formalized models of variability. This paper presents key aspects of Organization Domain Modeling (ODM), a systematic domain analysis method structured in terms of a core domain modeling life cycle directly addressing these methodological concerns. 1 Keywords: domain engineering, domain analysis, domain modeling, variability modeling, organization domain, stakeholder model, feature modeling 1.0 Introduction Since the seminal work of Neighbors and other researchers in the early 1980's, domain analysis (DA) has emerged as a distinct area of research and practice within the software reuse research community [9,10]. There are now a number of pu...

Program understanding is an essential part of all software maintenance and enhancement activities. As currently practiced, program understanding consists mainly of code reading. The few automated understanding tools that are actually used in industry provide helpful but relatively shallow information, such as the line numbers on which variable names occur or the calling structure possible among system components. These tools rely on analyses driven by the nature of the programming language used. As such, they are adequate to answer questions concerning implementation details, so called what questions. They are severely limited, however, when trying to relate a system to its purpose or requirements, the why questions. Application programs solve real-world problems. The part of the world with which a particular application is concerned is that application's domain. A model of an application's domain can serve as a supplement to programming-language-based analysis methods and tools....

Descriptions Computer programs are incredibly detailed. In essence they control the values of million of bits of memory inside of a computer. One of the jobs of the reverse engineer is to decide, from all this detail, which are the important concepts. This process is called abstraction; the reverse engineer must create an abstract representation of the program from the mass of concrete details. The abstraction process is not linear. That is, a given section of a program may be a part of several abstractions. The abstractions are said to be interleaved [7], and, because of this, the designer's plan is delocalized in the section [8]. Typically there is no documentation in the source code of the interleaving. C. Coherent Models and Incoherent Artifacts When a program is originally constructed, there is a coherent structuring of details. The process that creates the structuring is called design. A large variety of design methods and representation techniques have been developed to aid th...

Current strategic and technological trends in discrete-part manufacturing require extensive and #exible automation of the underlying production systems. However, even though a great deal of work has been done to facilitate manufacturing automation at the hardware component level, currently there is no adequately developed control methodology for these environments.

Object-oriented programming (OOP) has been revolutionizing software development and maintenance. When applied to simulation of manufacturing systems, OOP also provides an opportunity for developing new ways of thinking and modeling. In this paper, we identify existing large-scale, persistent OOP-based research efforts focusing on manufacturing system simulation, and present an integrating framework for discussing the associated modeling abstractions, implementation strategies, common themes, and distinctive features. The goal is to identify the fundamental research and application issues, assess the current state of the art, and identify key research needs. * . Please direct all correspondence to Dr. Leon F. McGinnis, Director, Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems, School of Industrial & Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 303320205. Phone: +1 404 894 5562. Fax: +1 404 894 2301. Email: leon.mcginnis@isye.gatech.edu. 2 1. Introduction Advanced m...

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Experience-based approaches to software development promise to capture critical knowledge from software projects that can be used as a basis for continuous improvement of software development practices. Putting these ideas into practice in the quickly evolving discipline of software engineering has proven elusive. Techniques and tools are needed that help software practitioners apply past knowledge to current projects while engaging in knowledge creation processes. This paper outlines the experience factory and organizational learning approaches, both of which explore how experience-based approaches to software development can be used to improve software development practices. A software tool is used to investigate how these two approaches can be integrated to create an approach that addresses many issues of knowledge