Modeling and building reliable, re-useable software

Agile software practices place great emphasis on coding, yet coding is time-consuming, difficult, and the source of many errors. The paper describes a way in which the specification and implementation processes can be unified, and much coding avoided as regards the behavioural aspects of the software. It shares much in common with agile methods, yet permits a significant degree of modeling to take place. This VFSM technique and its commercial implementation StateWORKS has been used for several years in a variety of projects, large and small, in industrial control and in telecommunications. It gives significant benefits in time-to-market, in reduced maintenance, and in accuracy of the final project documentation. It facilitates software reuse and system up-grading. It has potential to link up the "Executable UML" and "Agile Modeling" initiatives, to their mutual benefit.