AN ENVIRONMENT FOR CONCURRENT SOFTWARE DESIGN

WHILE COMPUTER SPEEDS HAVE BEEN DOUBLING EVERY COUPLE OF YEARS, THE PROCESS OF SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT TENDS TO PROCEED IN THE SAME WAY AS BEFORE, ONE LINE OF CODE AT A TIME. CONCURRENT SOFTWARE DESIGN ATTEMPTS TO CHANGE THAT SEVERAL TEAM MEMBERS, OR DESIGNERS, WORK SIMULTANEOUSLY TO DEVELOP A SINGLE SOFTWARE PRODUCT. CONCURRENT DESIGN IS EXPECTED TO CUT THE DEVELOPMENT TIME SIGNIFICANTLY. SUCCESSFUL CONCURRENT DESIGN INVOLVES TWO SEEMINGLY INCOMPATIBLE ASPECTS. ONE, THE DIFFERENT DESIGNERS SHOULD BE ABLE TO WORK CONCURRENTLY (OR, SIMULTANEOUSLY) AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. AND TWO, THEY SHOULD NOT OFFSET EACH OTHER'S WORK, OR OTHERWISE PRODUCE DESIGNS THAT ARE SOMEHOW CONFLICTING. GARG AND RAGHUNATHAN [9,10] RECENTLY DESCRIBED A NOVEL SCHEME TO OBTAIN BOTH CONCURRENCY AND COMPATIBILITY WITHOUT COMPROMISING ONE FOR THE OTHER. WHILE THIS SCHEME HAS SEVERAL FEATURES THAT ARE IDEALLY SUITED FOR CONCURRENT DESIGN, ITS PERFORMANCE (IN TERMS OF THE AMOUNTS OF SHARING AND CONFLICT) IS AS YET UNTESTED. WE POINT OUT THREE KEY FACTORS THAT MIGHT ENHANCE OR ADVERSELY AFFECT ITS PERFORMANCE. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO INVESTIGATE THESE FACTORS AND TO DEVELOP SCHEMES TO ENHANCE THE PERFORMANCE. WE INTEND TO PURSUE THESE GOALS BY BOTH THEORETICAL ANALYSIS AND BY EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION. IN PHASE II OF THIS PROJECT, WE INTEND TO BUILD SUCH A CONCURRENT DESIGN ENVIRONMENT. SUCH A SYSTEM, IF SUCCESSFUL, WILL GREATLY SPEED UP THE TEDIOUS AND TIME-CONSUMING PROCESS OF SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT. WE BELIEVE THAT THESE IDEAS ARE HIGHLY ORINGINAL & INNOVATIVE IN THAT THEY COMBINE TRADITIONAL ENGINEERING DESIGN DATABASE CONCEPTS WITH ADVANCED COMBINATORICS AND OPTIMIZATION. WE FURTHER BELIEVE THAT THERE IS A NICHE FOR SUCH SYSTEMS, AND THAT THEY HOLD GREAT COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS - (A SYSTEM BASED ON THE PROPOSED R&D WILL BE HIGHLY VALUABLE AS AN ENVIRONMENT FOR CONCURRENT SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT. THE PRODUCT RESULTING FROM PHASE II HAS GREAT COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL DUE TO THE VAST AMOUNT OF FUNDS BEING SPENT WORLDWIDE ON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT.1.)EINQ SRIENI-+. 440R,LDWIDE ON .-,OFTWAR-E DF..-VE.-.I(.-.)PMENT,