An introduction to database systems: vol. I (4th ed.)
An introduction to database systems: vol. I (4th ed.)
Human-computer interface development: concepts and systems for its management
ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR)
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In the context of this paper a computing software system consists of a database, an associated user interface which allows users to analyse the data and the routines or programs which implement the analytic functions available through the user interface. It is assumed that the complete system - source code and data - already exists in a form which is as easily portable as possible between different computer environments. For such systems adaptability is the problem of adjusting the user interface and analytic capabilities to suit different user communities when such a system is transferred from one environment to another. This may include adaptation to specific hardware facilities as well as user requirements.In 1977/8 the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) funded a project at University College Cardiff to implement a portable computing software system originating from the Population Dynamics Group (PDG) at the University of Illinois. This system allowed users to perform population projections under different demographic conditions showing in a graphical presentation how the population of a country varies over selected time spans. The database consisted of population statistics for a number of countries. When implemented at Cardiff it was intended that this system should be used as a demographic training aid by the post graduate diploma students in the David Owen Centre for Population Growth Studies. These students are an international group who are specialists in the field of demography but have little or no computing background.This paper will discuss briefly how this portable system was implemented on a PDP 11 minicomputer at Cardiff and then give a fuller description of the adaptation of the user interface and analytic capabilities to the local community and its computer facilities. General conclusions will be drawn as to how such systems should be written so as to ease the problems of adaptability.