A conceptual model for megaprogramming

ABSTRACT

"Currently, software is put together one statement at a time. What we need is to put software together one component at a time." --- Barry Boehm, at the Domain Specific Software Architecture (DSSA) Workshop, July 11--12, 1990.Megaprogramming, as defined at the first ISTO Software Technology Community Meeting, June 27-29, 1990, by Barry Boehm, director of DARPA/ISTO, is component-based software engineering and life-cycle management. The goal of this paper is to place megaprogramming in perspective with research in other areas of software engineering (i.e., formal methods and rapid prototyping) and to describe the author's experience developing a system to support megaprogramming.The paper, first, analyzes megaprogramming and its relationship to other DARPA research initiatives (CPS/CPL --- Common Prototyping System/Common Prototyping Language, DSSA --- Domain Specific Software Architectures, and SWU --- Software Understanding). Next, the desirable attributes of megaprogramming software components are identified and a software development model (The 3C Model) and resulting prototype megaprogramming system (LILEANNA --- Library Interconnection Language Extended by Annotated Ada) are described.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

General Terms:
Design, Theory