Technologies and techniques for rapid CASE tool development

This paper proposes a new approach to the construction of CASE tools. The aim of this research is the rapid production of platform-independent CASE tools customised to various software engineering methods. The approach incorporates established database technologies and meta-CASE concepts with formal specification techniques, and uses the CDIF standard for inter-tool data interchange. The research is based on the authors´ practical experience of CASE tool construction and method integration. The problems encountered in the areas of tool construction and integration are described, and the benefits arising from the new approach are explained. An example of tool development in the data warehousing application domain is presented Prototype CDIF tools, implemented in the Java programming language, are described, and directions for future research in this area are suggested