Config: a case study in combining software engineering techniques

  • Authors:
  • David Maley;Ivor Spence

  • Affiliations:
  • St. Mary's University College, 191 Falls Road, Belfast BT12 6FE, Northern Ireland, UK. E-mail: d.maley@stmarys-belfast.ac.uk;Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, UK. E-mail: i.spence@qub.ac.uk

  • Venue:
  • Scientific Programming
  • Year:
  • 2000

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Abstract

Config is a software component of the Graphical R-Matrix Atomic Collision Environment. Its development is documented as a case study combining several software engineering techniques: formal specification, generic programming, object-oriented programming, and design by contract. It is specified in VDM$++$; and implemented in C$++$, a language which is becoming more than a curiosity amongst the scientific programming community. C$++$supports object orientation, a powerful architectural paradigm in designing the structure of software systems, and genericity, an orthogonal dimension to the inheritance hierarchies facilitated by object oriented languages. Support in C$++$ for design by contract can be added in library form. The combination of techniques make a substantial contribution to the overall software quality.