This is the sirih itn a series oj articles cover- ing the arciitec- tures, methodolo- gies and tools reguired to re- tool information systems. With the spec- trum of incom- patible comput: ;: er-aided software engineering - (CASE) tools currently topping the 200 mark, its nearly impossible to share design information among diverse products. To overcome these limitations and allow developers to mix and match assorted tools, it's essential that CASE vendors subscribe to a common stan: dard for design information. CASE tools accept design information - in the form of diagrams, analyze the in- formation for logical errors and then [4 || stora the design information in a data Hk: .. Hi he - dicUonary or repository. Today, howev- | CT, each vendor stores information with- — in its own repository differently; conse- MARTIN VB 4 | SO, represent data-flow diagrams. v result of IBM's announcement last Sep- tember of its AD/Cycle repository, which specifies a standard way of defin- ing design information in the form of a common meta-data model. The meta- data model offers a standard represen- tation for the information contained in data-flow, decomposition, entity-relation- ship and other diagrams. To date, 47 vendors have announced that they will reimplement their CASE repogitories for AD/Cycle compliance. Once this happens, developers will be presented with a "software backplane" environment, which will let CASE tools programming and maintenance tasks. COBOL/2 Workbench is a "superb interactive environment" and " professionally crafted," " guently, there are hundreds of ways to » | This situation is about to change as a ' specific tasks, could consist of source- . We're very proud of COBOL/2 Workbench. And we're very gratified da O oe corporate buyer preferences in a recent PC Week review. ! From our maintrame COBOL compatibility features to our easy-to-leami, function key driven menu 8 tlem, loro Foout 0O La' Im Workbench is "eguipped to support the experienced developer" paking a transition from terminala sy Workelatlone f tor s according (oa recent product revlew. AD/ Cycle Promises Mix- čna. from multiple endOTA easily share de: sign information. This software-backplane EI | is illustrated in the accompanying ure: A variety of front-end CASE to0iS, back-end code generators and support | | tools all share information via the com- ' mon AD/ Cycle repository standard. m fig- | AD/Cycle Application- De diJ4 ? bi titico! able load O dUJčNJI s MIH Ci Compliance with a common reposl- tory of designa informatlon, as defined by AD/Cyele, will porinit organizatlons -; to select GASE tools that are the. best — of the breed," or tools that best support a specific life cycle. velopment Environment Polom of the development Objective Is To Let Developers Take Advantage of SAA«('ompllunt CASK Tools from Different Vendors; ALI Tools Share a Common lepoxtlovy Platforms (PS/2, AS/400, system ti z mi nn ne a S "Erna ON IKC EMA VE NEPEEEKIM.SNNINNE JM; K NNRNESŠJRLIE. A, ee Cornrnon Progra mming inter face Front-end tools from differeni vendors Front-end tools, which feed data into the repository, could include planning, analysis and design workbenches from a variety of CASE vendors. Back-end , | tools, which extract specification infor- mation from the repository to perform code generators for COBOL, C and | Ada, or modules that generate execut::. Micro Focus COBO! | Isa b i And there's more ,.."Micro Focus belies COBOL's mainframe noriaga with the artul design of the Workbenoh environment!.,.". | — and "Micro Focus' debugger, the ANIMATOR, lives up to ite name wilh a... E še well as through highlighted source code." je ke 5" ee | Application | | from differ- — taska, ahnd je another to sla and den they pe ohhoosa snom Hi Norice ranijo ot je Workbenct se welghted score sal h 8 ja me elegant displays that trace execution through structural dlagrams as If you or your organization want to improve programmer uctivity, ski is re-engineer existing COBOL applications for new ziteti high Mi |. performance, easy to maintain business appllostione tor POs, SK hi > mainframes, give us a call at Micro Focus. ——. We seli "Better Way of rppremning" solutions, piki sika adi RA zošngii | MICRO | FOCUS: PAK IK, MN UL žE SLI | A Beier Way of Programming" k s i a Ji ii ni Be To olhor SAA and non-IBM 6ysloinga COIMINOD Z Cormmunie. IWODS OF SO, ( Ee ze ni —a ii ii ie m ur —- mi prem PAR popoSitor, Integrated projeci- supporl environment fejeji: generators | J ent vendors o ia ŠE ar en A ei A PAR togo ci see 2 prti Mole: ih na ii di. vese k " userg wili Cie, di Matoh tools from'/ multiple vendors to support specific dš