ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM FOR APPLYING REUSEABLE SOFTWARE COMPONENTS

REUSE OF SOFTWARE COMPONENTS IS KNOWLEDGE-INTENSIVE. THE APPLICATION DESIGNER MUST KNOW: WHICH COMPONENTS ARE AVAILABLE; HOW TO INTERCONNECT COMPONENTS TO MEET APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS; AND HOW TO DEBUG APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS, A SEQUENCE OF SOFTWARE "BUILDS" LEADING TO A COMPLETED PROGRAM. THE COMPONENT CATALOGER MUST PROVIDE THIS KNOWLEDGE BY ENCODING IT INTO A KNOWLEDGE BASE OF COMPONENTS FOR LATER USE BY VARIOUS DESIGNERS. THE PROPOSED EFFORT WILL LEAD TO A CAD/CAE WORKSTATION CONTAINING AN AUTOMATED CATALOG OF COMPONENTS, AND A SUITE OF EXPERT SYSTEM TOOLS FOR MAINTAINING AND EXPANDING THE CATALOG. AN EXPLANATION FACILITY WILL BE DEVELOPED FOR HELPING THE APPLICATION DESIGNER UNDERSTAND HOW A PROTOTYPE APPLICATION IS CONSTRUCTED. THE EXPLANATION FACILITY WILL CAPTURE PERFORMANCE INFORMATION FROM THE TARGET SYSTEM AND WILL RELATE IT TO STRUCTURAL INFORMATION CAPTURED FROM THE CATALOG. ONE GOAL IS TO HELP THE DESIGNERUNDERSTAND HOW REQUIREMENTS RELATE TO PERFORMANCE OF THE PROTOTYPE SOFTWARE, AND THEREFORE ALLOWS THE DESIGNER TO EXPLORE A WIDER CHOICE OF REQUIREMENTS AND DESIGNS TO OBTAIN BETTER FUNCTIONALITY THAN PRESENT TECHNOLOGY SUPPORTS. RESOFT'S COMMERCIAL PRODUCT - ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LABORATORY - WILL BE USED AS THE FOUNDATION FOR PHASE II DEVELOPMENT. PHASE I WILL RESULT IN THE REQUIREMENTS, DESIGN AND FEASIBILITY STUDY OF THE NECESSARY EXTENSIONS.