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From: ttw@cbnewsl.att.com (thomas.t.wetmore..iv)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng,comp.sw.components,comp.misc,comp.groupware
Subject: Re: Prototyping and the Development Process
Summary: Bell Labs developed tool allows rapid development of fourth
	 generation and other specification-driven tools
Message-ID: <1990Sep20.175833.5089@cbnewsl.att.com>
Date: 20 Sep 90 17:58:33 GMT
Followup-To: poster
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 26

In various articles:
> ... We are interested in any rapid prototyping ...
> ... something that is suitable for production use ...
> ... decision to switch to a 4GL ... advantages ... is the ability
> to do cost efficient prototypes ... 

AT&T is licensing a meta-translator named MetaTool(tm) Specification-
Driven Tool Builder.  It translates description files into software
tools that are "specification-driven."  These specification-driven tools
(SDTools) can be such things as fourth-generation language processors,
user interface generators, database management system generators,
compilers, device driver generators, etc, in fact, any deterministic text
to text translator program.

Measurements show that MetaTool SDTB increases the productivity of an
SDTool builder by an average factor of 16 (which really means you can
rapidly "prototype" a production quality program), which then compounds
with the productivity increases stemming from using the generated
SDTool (factors usually between 4 and 40).

MetaTool SDTB was developed by the Advanced Software Products group at
AT&T Bell Laboratories.

Tom Wetmore (ttw@mvuxi.att.com)
AT&T Bell Laboratories
(508) 960-6015