Introduction of CASE Tools, Software Engineering, Computer Science - Design PDF Download

 Page 1


  Anantika Nautiyal UE103012 
PRACTICAL 1 
 
 
 
AIM: Introduction of CASE tools. 
 
 
CASE 
Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) is the use of software tools to assist in the 
development and maintenance of software. Tools used to assist in this way are known as CASE 
Tools. 
 
CASE Tool 
1. A CASE tool is a computer-based product aimed at supporting one or more software 
engineering activities within a software development process. 
2. Computer-Aided Software Engineering tools are those software which are used in any 
and all phases of developing an information system, including analysis, design and 
programming. For example, data dictionaries and diagramming tools aid in the analysis 
and design phases, while application generators speed up the programming phase. 
3. CASE tools provide automated methods for designing and documenting traditional 
structured programming techniques. The ultimate goal of CASE is to provide a language 
for describing the overall system that is sufficient to generate all the necessary programs 
needed. 
 
CLASSIFICATION of CASE TOOLS 
Existing CASE tools can be classified along 4 different dimensions: 
1. Life-cycle support 
2. Integration dimension 
3. Construction dimension 
4. Knowledge-based CASE dimension 
Let us take the meaning of these dimensions along with their examples one by one: 
 
 
Life-Cycle Based CASE Tools 
This dimension classifies CASE Tools on the basis of the activities they support in the 
information systems life cycle. They can be classified as Upper or Lower CASE tools. 
 
Page 2


  Anantika Nautiyal UE103012 
PRACTICAL 1 
 
 
 
AIM: Introduction of CASE tools. 
 
 
CASE 
Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) is the use of software tools to assist in the 
development and maintenance of software. Tools used to assist in this way are known as CASE 
Tools. 
 
CASE Tool 
1. A CASE tool is a computer-based product aimed at supporting one or more software 
engineering activities within a software development process. 
2. Computer-Aided Software Engineering tools are those software which are used in any 
and all phases of developing an information system, including analysis, design and 
programming. For example, data dictionaries and diagramming tools aid in the analysis 
and design phases, while application generators speed up the programming phase. 
3. CASE tools provide automated methods for designing and documenting traditional 
structured programming techniques. The ultimate goal of CASE is to provide a language 
for describing the overall system that is sufficient to generate all the necessary programs 
needed. 
 
CLASSIFICATION of CASE TOOLS 
Existing CASE tools can be classified along 4 different dimensions: 
1. Life-cycle support 
2. Integration dimension 
3. Construction dimension 
4. Knowledge-based CASE dimension 
Let us take the meaning of these dimensions along with their examples one by one: 
 
 
Life-Cycle Based CASE Tools 
This dimension classifies CASE Tools on the basis of the activities they support in the 
information systems life cycle. They can be classified as Upper or Lower CASE tools. 
 
  Anantika Nautiyal UE103012 
UpperCASE Tool 
UpperCASE Tool is a Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) software tool that 
supports the software development activities upstream from implementation. Uppercasetool 
focus on the analysis phase (but sometimes also the design phase) of the software development 
lifecycle (diagramming tools, report and form generators, and analysis tools) 
 
? LowerCASE Tool 
LowerCASE Tool Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) software tool that 
directly supports the implementation (programming) and integration tasks. LowerCASE 
tools support database schema generation, program generation, implementation, testing, 
and configuration management. 
 
Integration dimension 
Three main CASE Integration dimensions have been proposed:  
1. CASE Framework 
2. ICASE Tools  
Tools that integrate both upper and lower CASE, for example making it possible to 
design a form and build the database to support it at the same time. An automated system 
development environment that provides numerous tools to create diagrams, forms and 
reports. It also offers analysis, reporting, and code generation facilities and seamlessly 
shares and integrates data across and between tools. 
3. Integrated Project Support Environment(IPSE) 
 
 
Types of CASE Tools 
The general types of CASE tools are listed below: 
1. Diagramming tools: enable system process, data and control structures to be represented 
graphically. 
2. Computer display and report generators: help prototype how systems look and feel. It 
makes it easier for the systems analyst to identify data requirements and relationship. 
3. Analysis tools: automatically check for importance, inconsistent, or incorrect 
specifications in diagrams, forms, and reports. 
4. Central repository: enables the integrated storage of specifications, diagrams, reports 
and project management information. 
5. Documentation Generators: produce technical and user documentation in standard 
formats. 
6. Code generators: enable the automatic generation of program and data base definition 
code directly from the design documents, diagrams, forms, and reports. 
 
Page 3


  Anantika Nautiyal UE103012 
PRACTICAL 1 
 
 
 
AIM: Introduction of CASE tools. 
 
 
CASE 
Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) is the use of software tools to assist in the 
development and maintenance of software. Tools used to assist in this way are known as CASE 
Tools. 
 
CASE Tool 
1. A CASE tool is a computer-based product aimed at supporting one or more software 
engineering activities within a software development process. 
2. Computer-Aided Software Engineering tools are those software which are used in any 
and all phases of developing an information system, including analysis, design and 
programming. For example, data dictionaries and diagramming tools aid in the analysis 
and design phases, while application generators speed up the programming phase. 
3. CASE tools provide automated methods for designing and documenting traditional 
structured programming techniques. The ultimate goal of CASE is to provide a language 
for describing the overall system that is sufficient to generate all the necessary programs 
needed. 
 
CLASSIFICATION of CASE TOOLS 
Existing CASE tools can be classified along 4 different dimensions: 
1. Life-cycle support 
2. Integration dimension 
3. Construction dimension 
4. Knowledge-based CASE dimension 
Let us take the meaning of these dimensions along with their examples one by one: 
 
 
Life-Cycle Based CASE Tools 
This dimension classifies CASE Tools on the basis of the activities they support in the 
information systems life cycle. They can be classified as Upper or Lower CASE tools. 
 
  Anantika Nautiyal UE103012 
UpperCASE Tool 
UpperCASE Tool is a Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) software tool that 
supports the software development activities upstream from implementation. Uppercasetool 
focus on the analysis phase (but sometimes also the design phase) of the software development 
lifecycle (diagramming tools, report and form generators, and analysis tools) 
 
? LowerCASE Tool 
LowerCASE Tool Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) software tool that 
directly supports the implementation (programming) and integration tasks. LowerCASE 
tools support database schema generation, program generation, implementation, testing, 
and configuration management. 
 
Integration dimension 
Three main CASE Integration dimensions have been proposed:  
1. CASE Framework 
2. ICASE Tools  
Tools that integrate both upper and lower CASE, for example making it possible to 
design a form and build the database to support it at the same time. An automated system 
development environment that provides numerous tools to create diagrams, forms and 
reports. It also offers analysis, reporting, and code generation facilities and seamlessly 
shares and integrates data across and between tools. 
3. Integrated Project Support Environment(IPSE) 
 
 
Types of CASE Tools 
The general types of CASE tools are listed below: 
1. Diagramming tools: enable system process, data and control structures to be represented 
graphically. 
2. Computer display and report generators: help prototype how systems look and feel. It 
makes it easier for the systems analyst to identify data requirements and relationship. 
3. Analysis tools: automatically check for importance, inconsistent, or incorrect 
specifications in diagrams, forms, and reports. 
4. Central repository: enables the integrated storage of specifications, diagrams, reports 
and project management information. 
5. Documentation Generators: produce technical and user documentation in standard 
formats. 
6. Code generators: enable the automatic generation of program and data base definition 
code directly from the design documents, diagrams, forms, and reports. 
 
  Anantika Nautiyal UE103012 
Functions of a CASE Tool 
1. Analysis 
CASE analysis tools automatically check for incomplete, inconsistent, or in correct 
specifications in diagrams, forms and reports. 
2. Design 
This is where the technical blueprint of the system is created by designing the technical 
architecture – choosing amongst the architectural designs of telecommunications, 
hardware and software that will best suit the organization’s system and future needs. Also 
designing the systems model – graphically creating a model from graphical user 
interface, screen design, and databases, to placement of objects on screen 
3. Code generation 
CASE Tool has code generators which enable the automatic generation of program and 
data base definition code directly from the documents, diagrams, forms, and reports. 
4. Documentation 
CASE Tool has documentation generators to produce technical and user documentation 
in standard forms. Each phase of the SDLC produces documentation. The types of 
documentation that flow from one face to the next vary depending upon the organization, 
methodologies employed and type of system being built. 
 
CASE Tools 
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES 
Helps standardization of notations and diagrams Limitations in the flexibility of documentation 
Help communication between development 
team members 
May lead to restriction to the tool's capabilities 
Automatically check the quality of the  models 
Major danger: completeness and syntactic 
correctness does NOT mean compliance with 
requirements 
Reduction of time and effort 
Costs associated with the use of the tool: 
purchase + training 
Enhance reuse of models or models' 
components           
Staff resistance to CASE tools 
 
 
 
 
Page 4


  Anantika Nautiyal UE103012 
PRACTICAL 1 
 
 
 
AIM: Introduction of CASE tools. 
 
 
CASE 
Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) is the use of software tools to assist in the 
development and maintenance of software. Tools used to assist in this way are known as CASE 
Tools. 
 
CASE Tool 
1. A CASE tool is a computer-based product aimed at supporting one or more software 
engineering activities within a software development process. 
2. Computer-Aided Software Engineering tools are those software which are used in any 
and all phases of developing an information system, including analysis, design and 
programming. For example, data dictionaries and diagramming tools aid in the analysis 
and design phases, while application generators speed up the programming phase. 
3. CASE tools provide automated methods for designing and documenting traditional 
structured programming techniques. The ultimate goal of CASE is to provide a language 
for describing the overall system that is sufficient to generate all the necessary programs 
needed. 
 
CLASSIFICATION of CASE TOOLS 
Existing CASE tools can be classified along 4 different dimensions: 
1. Life-cycle support 
2. Integration dimension 
3. Construction dimension 
4. Knowledge-based CASE dimension 
Let us take the meaning of these dimensions along with their examples one by one: 
 
 
Life-Cycle Based CASE Tools 
This dimension classifies CASE Tools on the basis of the activities they support in the 
information systems life cycle. They can be classified as Upper or Lower CASE tools. 
 
  Anantika Nautiyal UE103012 
UpperCASE Tool 
UpperCASE Tool is a Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) software tool that 
supports the software development activities upstream from implementation. Uppercasetool 
focus on the analysis phase (but sometimes also the design phase) of the software development 
lifecycle (diagramming tools, report and form generators, and analysis tools) 
 
? LowerCASE Tool 
LowerCASE Tool Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) software tool that 
directly supports the implementation (programming) and integration tasks. LowerCASE 
tools support database schema generation, program generation, implementation, testing, 
and configuration management. 
 
Integration dimension 
Three main CASE Integration dimensions have been proposed:  
1. CASE Framework 
2. ICASE Tools  
Tools that integrate both upper and lower CASE, for example making it possible to 
design a form and build the database to support it at the same time. An automated system 
development environment that provides numerous tools to create diagrams, forms and 
reports. It also offers analysis, reporting, and code generation facilities and seamlessly 
shares and integrates data across and between tools. 
3. Integrated Project Support Environment(IPSE) 
 
 
Types of CASE Tools 
The general types of CASE tools are listed below: 
1. Diagramming tools: enable system process, data and control structures to be represented 
graphically. 
2. Computer display and report generators: help prototype how systems look and feel. It 
makes it easier for the systems analyst to identify data requirements and relationship. 
3. Analysis tools: automatically check for importance, inconsistent, or incorrect 
specifications in diagrams, forms, and reports. 
4. Central repository: enables the integrated storage of specifications, diagrams, reports 
and project management information. 
5. Documentation Generators: produce technical and user documentation in standard 
formats. 
6. Code generators: enable the automatic generation of program and data base definition 
code directly from the design documents, diagrams, forms, and reports. 
 
  Anantika Nautiyal UE103012 
Functions of a CASE Tool 
1. Analysis 
CASE analysis tools automatically check for incomplete, inconsistent, or in correct 
specifications in diagrams, forms and reports. 
2. Design 
This is where the technical blueprint of the system is created by designing the technical 
architecture – choosing amongst the architectural designs of telecommunications, 
hardware and software that will best suit the organization’s system and future needs. Also 
designing the systems model – graphically creating a model from graphical user 
interface, screen design, and databases, to placement of objects on screen 
3. Code generation 
CASE Tool has code generators which enable the automatic generation of program and 
data base definition code directly from the documents, diagrams, forms, and reports. 
4. Documentation 
CASE Tool has documentation generators to produce technical and user documentation 
in standard forms. Each phase of the SDLC produces documentation. The types of 
documentation that flow from one face to the next vary depending upon the organization, 
methodologies employed and type of system being built. 
 
CASE Tools 
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES 
Helps standardization of notations and diagrams Limitations in the flexibility of documentation 
Help communication between development 
team members 
May lead to restriction to the tool's capabilities 
Automatically check the quality of the  models 
Major danger: completeness and syntactic 
correctness does NOT mean compliance with 
requirements 
Reduction of time and effort 
Costs associated with the use of the tool: 
purchase + training 
Enhance reuse of models or models' 
components           
Staff resistance to CASE tools 
 
 
 
 
  Anantika Nautiyal UE103012 
CASE Environments  
An environment is a collection of CASE tools and workbenches that supports the software 
process. CASE environments are classified based on the focus/basis of integration 
1. Toolkits 
2. Language-centered 
3. Integrated 
4. Fourth generation 
5. Process-centered 
 
Toolkits 
Toolkits are loosely integrated collections of products easily extended by aggregating different 
tools and workbenches. Typically, the support provided by a toolkit is limited to programming, 
configuration management and project management. And the toolkit itself is environments 
extended from basic sets of operating system tools, for example, the Unix Programmer's Work 
Bench and the VMS VAX Set. In addition, toolkits' loose integration requires user to activate 
tools by explicit invocation or simple control mechanisms. The resulting files are unstructured 
and could be in different format, therefore the access of file from different tools may require 
explicit file format conversion. However, since the only constraint for adding a new component 
is the formats of the files, toolkits can be easily and incrementally extended.  
Language-centered 
The environment itself is written in the programming language for which it was developed, thus 
enabling users to reuse, customize and extend the environment. Integration of code in different 
languages is a major issue for language-centered environments. Lack of process and data 
integration is also a problem. The strengths of these environments include good level of 
presentation and control integration. Interlisp, Smalltalk, Rational, and KEE are examples of 
language-centered environments.  
Integrated 
These environments achieve presentation integration by providing uniform, consistent, and 
coherent tool and workbench interfaces. Data integration is achieved through 
therepository concept: they have a specialized database managing all information produced and 
accessed in the environment. Examples of integrated environment are the ICL CADESsystem, 
IBM AD/Cycle and DEC Cohesion.  
Fourth-generation 
Fourth-generation environments were the first integrated environments. They are sets of tools 
and workbenches supporting the development of a specific class of program: electronic data 
processing and business-oriented applications. In general, they include programming tools, 
simple configuration management tools, document handling facilities and, sometimes, a code 
generator to produce code in lower level languages. Informix 4GL, and Focus fall into this 
category.  
 
Page 5


  Anantika Nautiyal UE103012 
PRACTICAL 1 
 
 
 
AIM: Introduction of CASE tools. 
 
 
CASE 
Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) is the use of software tools to assist in the 
development and maintenance of software. Tools used to assist in this way are known as CASE 
Tools. 
 
CASE Tool 
1. A CASE tool is a computer-based product aimed at supporting one or more software 
engineering activities within a software development process. 
2. Computer-Aided Software Engineering tools are those software which are used in any 
and all phases of developing an information system, including analysis, design and 
programming. For example, data dictionaries and diagramming tools aid in the analysis 
and design phases, while application generators speed up the programming phase. 
3. CASE tools provide automated methods for designing and documenting traditional 
structured programming techniques. The ultimate goal of CASE is to provide a language 
for describing the overall system that is sufficient to generate all the necessary programs 
needed. 
 
CLASSIFICATION of CASE TOOLS 
Existing CASE tools can be classified along 4 different dimensions: 
1. Life-cycle support 
2. Integration dimension 
3. Construction dimension 
4. Knowledge-based CASE dimension 
Let us take the meaning of these dimensions along with their examples one by one: 
 
 
Life-Cycle Based CASE Tools 
This dimension classifies CASE Tools on the basis of the activities they support in the 
information systems life cycle. They can be classified as Upper or Lower CASE tools. 
 
  Anantika Nautiyal UE103012 
UpperCASE Tool 
UpperCASE Tool is a Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) software tool that 
supports the software development activities upstream from implementation. Uppercasetool 
focus on the analysis phase (but sometimes also the design phase) of the software development 
lifecycle (diagramming tools, report and form generators, and analysis tools) 
 
? LowerCASE Tool 
LowerCASE Tool Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) software tool that 
directly supports the implementation (programming) and integration tasks. LowerCASE 
tools support database schema generation, program generation, implementation, testing, 
and configuration management. 
 
Integration dimension 
Three main CASE Integration dimensions have been proposed:  
1. CASE Framework 
2. ICASE Tools  
Tools that integrate both upper and lower CASE, for example making it possible to 
design a form and build the database to support it at the same time. An automated system 
development environment that provides numerous tools to create diagrams, forms and 
reports. It also offers analysis, reporting, and code generation facilities and seamlessly 
shares and integrates data across and between tools. 
3. Integrated Project Support Environment(IPSE) 
 
 
Types of CASE Tools 
The general types of CASE tools are listed below: 
1. Diagramming tools: enable system process, data and control structures to be represented 
graphically. 
2. Computer display and report generators: help prototype how systems look and feel. It 
makes it easier for the systems analyst to identify data requirements and relationship. 
3. Analysis tools: automatically check for importance, inconsistent, or incorrect 
specifications in diagrams, forms, and reports. 
4. Central repository: enables the integrated storage of specifications, diagrams, reports 
and project management information. 
5. Documentation Generators: produce technical and user documentation in standard 
formats. 
6. Code generators: enable the automatic generation of program and data base definition 
code directly from the design documents, diagrams, forms, and reports. 
 
  Anantika Nautiyal UE103012 
Functions of a CASE Tool 
1. Analysis 
CASE analysis tools automatically check for incomplete, inconsistent, or in correct 
specifications in diagrams, forms and reports. 
2. Design 
This is where the technical blueprint of the system is created by designing the technical 
architecture – choosing amongst the architectural designs of telecommunications, 
hardware and software that will best suit the organization’s system and future needs. Also 
designing the systems model – graphically creating a model from graphical user 
interface, screen design, and databases, to placement of objects on screen 
3. Code generation 
CASE Tool has code generators which enable the automatic generation of program and 
data base definition code directly from the documents, diagrams, forms, and reports. 
4. Documentation 
CASE Tool has documentation generators to produce technical and user documentation 
in standard forms. Each phase of the SDLC produces documentation. The types of 
documentation that flow from one face to the next vary depending upon the organization, 
methodologies employed and type of system being built. 
 
CASE Tools 
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES 
Helps standardization of notations and diagrams Limitations in the flexibility of documentation 
Help communication between development 
team members 
May lead to restriction to the tool's capabilities 
Automatically check the quality of the  models 
Major danger: completeness and syntactic 
correctness does NOT mean compliance with 
requirements 
Reduction of time and effort 
Costs associated with the use of the tool: 
purchase + training 
Enhance reuse of models or models' 
components           
Staff resistance to CASE tools 
 
 
 
 
  Anantika Nautiyal UE103012 
CASE Environments  
An environment is a collection of CASE tools and workbenches that supports the software 
process. CASE environments are classified based on the focus/basis of integration 
1. Toolkits 
2. Language-centered 
3. Integrated 
4. Fourth generation 
5. Process-centered 
 
Toolkits 
Toolkits are loosely integrated collections of products easily extended by aggregating different 
tools and workbenches. Typically, the support provided by a toolkit is limited to programming, 
configuration management and project management. And the toolkit itself is environments 
extended from basic sets of operating system tools, for example, the Unix Programmer's Work 
Bench and the VMS VAX Set. In addition, toolkits' loose integration requires user to activate 
tools by explicit invocation or simple control mechanisms. The resulting files are unstructured 
and could be in different format, therefore the access of file from different tools may require 
explicit file format conversion. However, since the only constraint for adding a new component 
is the formats of the files, toolkits can be easily and incrementally extended.  
Language-centered 
The environment itself is written in the programming language for which it was developed, thus 
enabling users to reuse, customize and extend the environment. Integration of code in different 
languages is a major issue for language-centered environments. Lack of process and data 
integration is also a problem. The strengths of these environments include good level of 
presentation and control integration. Interlisp, Smalltalk, Rational, and KEE are examples of 
language-centered environments.  
Integrated 
These environments achieve presentation integration by providing uniform, consistent, and 
coherent tool and workbench interfaces. Data integration is achieved through 
therepository concept: they have a specialized database managing all information produced and 
accessed in the environment. Examples of integrated environment are the ICL CADESsystem, 
IBM AD/Cycle and DEC Cohesion.  
Fourth-generation 
Fourth-generation environments were the first integrated environments. They are sets of tools 
and workbenches supporting the development of a specific class of program: electronic data 
processing and business-oriented applications. In general, they include programming tools, 
simple configuration management tools, document handling facilities and, sometimes, a code 
generator to produce code in lower level languages. Informix 4GL, and Focus fall into this 
category.  
 
  Anantika Nautiyal UE103012 
 
Process-centered 
Environments in this category focus on process integration with other integration dimensions as 
starting points. A process-centered environment operates by interpreting a process model created 
by specialized tools. They usually consist of tools handling two functions: 
? Process-model execution 
? Process-model production 
Examples are East, Enterprise II, Process Wise, Process Weaver, and Arcadia.