Portable Common Tool Environment Research Articles

Interfacing Oz with the PCTE OMS: A case study of integrating a legacy System with a standard Object Management System

The integration of a legacy system and a standard Object Management System (OMS) is often a very challenging task. This paper details a case study, our experiment in interfacing Oz with the PCTE (Portable Common Tool Environment) Object Management System. Oz is a multi-user process-centered software development environment that has been under development in our lab since 1987, originally under the name Marvel. PCTE is a specification that defines a language-independent interface providing support mechanisms for software engineering environments (SEE). One of the premises of PCTE is that, in theory, an SEE such as Oz can be built (or extended) using the services provided by PCTE. The purpose of our experiment was to study how a legacy system such as Oz can be integrated into a new environment framework, e.g., PCTE. The architecture of the legacy system and the services of the framework are the key factors in the integration approach. Because Oz historically has included a native OMS, our experiment focused on modifying Oz to use the PCTE OMS, which has an open and standard API. This paper describes how several Oz components were changed to interface to the PCTE OMS. The resulting proof-of-concept hybrid system has process control and integration services provided by Oz, and data integration services provided in part by PCTE. We discuss in depth the solutions to the concurrency control problems that arise in such an environment, where Oz and PCTE use different approaches to transaction management (i.e., each has its own transaction manager). The PCTE implementation used in our experiment was the Emeraude PCTE V 12.5.1, and the Oz version was V 1.0.1.

Multiple view environment supporting VDM and Ada

The paper presents a multiple view, software development environment that supports transformation between VDM and Ada. The environment allows a software system to be represented in a canonical, source language independent form. This representation may then be viewed, and modified, via editors which support different notation. Two specific editors have been developed; one supports the Vienna Development Method (VDM) notation, and the other supports the Ada programming language package specification notation. Automatic transformation between the two notations is achieved via the canonical representation. The representation is stored in a repository implemented using the Portable Common Tool Environment (PCTE), and the editors are implemented using Tcl/Tk.

The European Space Software Development Environment Reference Facility Project

The ESSDE Reference Facility Project, whose goal is to provide a uniform, open environment for software development at the European Space Agency (ESA), has just completed the architectural design phase. A software engineering environment based upon the Portable Common Tool Environment (PCTE) interfaces has been specified, including a complete data model supporting all activities and products in the ESA standard software development life cycle. Several issues of much current interest have been addressed including scalability, configurability and the integration of commercial tools into an existing framework.

Concurrent Design Management and Manufacturing Architecture

Design Management and Manufacturing System means, in our perception, a concurrent approach to couple mechanization and automation synergies for a better Enterprise's reactivity in these basic domains of a Computer Integrated Manufacturing and Engineering Iopen System Architecture. Our reference CIME model _methodology and technical information_ reduced to machining and autonlation design functions, maintenance and manufacturing shop floor operation and technical management, is supported by PCTE-OMS (Portable Common Tool Environment - Object Management System) standard to integrate and not simply interconnect different heterogeneous CAX (Computer Aided X…) systems involved in this problem.

PCTE interfaces: supporting tools in software-engineering environments

A description is given of a public tool interface, the ESPRIT Portable Common Tool Environment (PCTE). The aim of the project was to define an interface for the software developed in ESPRIT and to provide a prototype implementation. The PCTE project produced several versions of the prototype implementation and has been used as the basis for several other projects. The facilities of PCTE Version 1.5 are described.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Hyperbook: an experiment with PCTE

PCTE (A Basis for a Portable Common Tool Environment) is a Public Tool Interface (PTI) intended to provide a basis on which to construct an Integrated Project Support Environment (IPSE). Thus, PTIs are primarily concerned with IPSE needs. This paper shows that applications other than IPSEs also benefit from PTIs, by examining the design, on PCTE, of a management subsystem for structured documents It goes on to describe a prototype of such a subsystem, a hypermedia kernel named Hyperbook. Finally. in the light of this case study, we discuss the feasibility and adequacy of using PCTE for such non-IPSE applications.

Integrated project support environments

The paper presents an overview of integrated project support environments (IPSEs) which are software development environments intended to support large, long-lifetime software projects. The logical structure of an IPSE is discussed from the view that the IPSE is a set of layered facilities. Each layer in the set is described. Standardization is important for future IPSE development and standard public tool interfaces are discussed. Common ada programming support environment interface set (CATS) and portable common tool environment (PCTE) are introduced. Examples of tool and user interface integration in an IPSE are provided using the Eclipse IPSE as an exemplar. Deficiencies in current systems and future developments in this area are addressed.

PCTE—a remarkable platform

The tutorial concentrates on the nature of the Portable Common Tool Environment (PCTE). It explains PCTE's importance and clarifies some of the terminology that surrounds it. Only minor attention is paid to technical contents and the many PCTE-related activities. This is because the literature on PCTE goes into deep detail about PCTE's technical contents and the many activities that contribute to its evolution, thus disguising a description of its underlying concept. The tutorial provides a general overview of the PCTE concept and a basis for further technical reading.

A prototype for the integration of information resource dictionary system and PCTE

The standard for the architecture of an Information Resource Dictionary System (IRDS), proposed by the ANSI X3H2 and the ISO/IEC/JTCI/SC21/WG3 is in process of being developed. After a first phase of common work the two proposals have developed towards different directions. In this article a project, currently under development, is presented, which implements an IRDS prototype as an example of centralized management of information required for both/either software development documentation and software design. In order to allow for the interchange and/or sharing of information between different standard software, a prototype was implemented based on OMS (Object Management System), the PCTE's (Portable Common Tool Environment) database management system which has been defined as a goal of the EEC's ESPRIT project. A parallel prototype based on SQL, the standard database query language for relational data model, was realized to better evaluate the OMS implementation by comparison. On the ground of this experience some preliminary considerations on the different IRDS standard proposals and implementation types are drawn.

Emeraude portable common tool environment

This paper present the Emeraude portable common tool environment. It begins by explaining the approach followed in the design and construction of software development environments, and the Emeraude product itself. It continues with a general overview of the numerous related developments, with respect to standardization efforts, products and associated research and development. There follows a technical presentation of the architecture, addressing in particular issues on process control, object management and use of the object management system, distribution over a network of workstations, and the user interface. The paper assumes a general knowledge of PCTE given in an overview paper in Information and Software Technology, Vol 29 No 8.

Portable Common Tool Environment

The concept of a Portable Common Tool Environment as the underlying, basic framework for the construction of Integrated Project Support Environments is now widely accepted in the software engineering technology community. The goal is to standardise a Public Common Tool Interface for software tools to be integrated into software engineering environments around an object management system distributed over a number of personal work stations, offering an advanced, ergonomic interface for the dialogue between tools and the end-user. (Much of this paper has already appeared in one form or another in a variety of publications by the PCTE project.)

Standardization, availability and use of PCTE

Portable common tool environment (PCTE) corresponds to the kernel of the IPSE, and is a crucial interface and environment for improving software productivity. This paper details the background of PCTE. It explains how European commerical companies have implemented and marketed a product called Emeraude on the Bull and Sun workstations offering the standard public common tool interface (PCTI) defined in the PCTE specification.