The Global Control Environment tool: a new software system prototyping approach

Presents a novel approach to the prototyping of complex software systems. The approach has been implemented as a software development environment called the Global Control Environment (GCE) tool. It provides mechanisms facilitating the definition of a user interface and the analysis of possible interactions between internal applications. A high-level, interpreted language is used to allow the specification of user interfaces using scripts. In addition to widget object descriptions, this language allows the specification of all control aspects that manage the interaction between the end-user and internal processes. The paper indicates the role of the GCE tool in a prototyping environment