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From: hammondr@sunroof.crd.ge.com (Richard A Hammond)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Pictorial Case Tools
Message-ID: <19874@crdgw1.crd.ge.com>
Date: 24 May 91 13:07:51 GMT
References: <136@mishima.mishima.mn.org> <1991May22.223228.5483@netcom.COM> <1991May23.185623.24457@agate.berkeley.edu>
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In article <1991May22.223228.5483@netcom.COM>
jls@netcom.COM (Jim Showalter) writes:
>I'm not a big fan of any of the pictorial CASE tools. ... For pictorial
>design work, the all-time greatest tool is a whiteboard in a well-lit
>room. ...

In article <1991May23.185623.24457@agate.berkeley.edu>
bks@alfa.berkeley.edu (Brad Sherman) writes:
>   I heartily concur with Mr. Showalter's advocacy of whiteboards over
>pictorial CASE tools.  I would also like to recommend the use of large
>calendars, with the last few months and the next 6 months all simultaneously
>visible on a wall, as superior to any scheduling software available.

This sounds to me a bit like the old Ada vs C debates -	:-)
Ada - more structured, C - less confining

For me the main purpose of the pictorial case tools is to capture the design
at as early a stage as possible so that we can begin testing for consistency
and omissions with automated tools.  The same is true of the scheduling
software.  It should provide automatic checking of the deadlines vs progress.
One can do these tests manually on white-boards, but it is tedious, time
consuming and error prone on a large project, just like software engineering
in C.:-)

Now, I'm neglecting the issue of whether the current crop of tools actually
do the checking or not.  Also, as Jim Showalter pointed out, the tools seem
to have problems handling large projects, which is precisely where one needs
them the most.  I'm confident the tools will improve, just like Ada compilers
have.

I don't object to using white boards as scratch pads and transferring the
results to a tool, that's the way I work.

My main concern is that the tools, unlike Ada, don't seem to be mandated,
and thus the vendors might go out of business before they manage to
produce production quality tools.

Rich Hammond