Seeding, Evolutionary Growth and Reseeding: Constructing, Capturing and Evolving Knowledge in Domain-Oriented Design Environments

  • Authors:
  • Gerhard Fischer

  • Affiliations:
  • Center for LifeLong Learning and Design (L3D), Department of Computer Science and Institute of Cognitive Science, Campus Box 430, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309. E-mail: Email: gerhard@ ...

  • Venue:
  • Automated Software Engineering
  • Year:
  • 1998

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

We live in a world characterized by evolution—that is, byongoing processes of development, formation, and growth in bothnatural and human-created systems. Biology tells us that complex,natural systems are not created all at once but must instead evolveover time. We are becoming increasingly aware that evolutionaryprocesses are ubiquitous and critical for technological innovationsas well. This is particularly true for complex software systemsbecause these systems do not necessarily exist in a technologicalcontext alone but instead are embedded within dynamic humanorganizations.The Center for LifeLong Learning and Design (L3D) at theUniversity of Colorado has been involved in research on softwaredesign and other design domains for more than a decade. Weunderstand software design as an evolutionary process in which systemrequirements and functionality are determined through an iterativeprocess of collaboration among multiple stakeholders, rather thanbeing completely specified before system development occurs. Ourresearch focuses on the following claims about software systemsembedded within dynamic human organizations: (1) they must evolvebecause they cannot be completely designed prior to use, (2) theymust evolve to some extent at the hands of the users, and (3) theymust be designed for evolution.Our theoretical work builds upon our existing knowledge of designprocesses and focuses on a software process model and architecturespecifically for systems that must evolve. Our theories areinstantiated and assessed through the development and evolution ofdomain-oriented design environments (DODEs)—software systems thatsupport design activities within particular domains and that arebuilt specifically to evolve.