Links
Initially, this is just a collection of links to useful internal and
external documents:
Development process
The main highlights from the Dixite document is the following process
and related tools:
- Planning - Apache Maven
- Requirement Analysis and Specification -
ArgoUML, CVS and DocBook (XML) as well
as LaTeX for (version control of) documentation
- Design and Specification - Dixite uses
ArgoUML, and
Xfig (runs under X11) for higher level
graphing, I suggest we use
OmniGraffle
for graphing purposes.
- Implementation and Unit Testing - a plethora of software, depending
on the tasks at hand.
- System Integration and Testing -
JUnit and
Bugzilla
- Delivery and Maintenance - Bugzilla
We have so far not had any real development process, only doing bits of
4 and 5 without support from a real plan, no design, no specifications,
and testing only of the inflection of the linguistic models (we have
very recently added the facilities to test two-level rules, but that
isn’t put to much use yet).
Software we have
We are already using several of the tools listed by Dixite (CVS,
Bugzilla, XML-based documentation). If we set up a development process
similar to the above, with software used specified, we arrive at the
following:
- Planning – [nothing really, that is, MS Word and Excel] see the
list of candidates for more info
- Requirement Analysis and Specification – Forrest
- Design and Specification – Forrest
- Implementation and Testing –
- System Integration and Testing –
- Delivery and Maintenance – Forrest, CVS, Bugzilla
For the missing parts I suggest we look more into the following
packages:
- Apache Maven – project management (but
cf also the list of commercial project management
tools)
- Maven is now officially dead - see the home page. The most
likely candidate now is the commercial, Mac-only tool Merlin
(more info).
- ArgoUML – design, specifications and
use cases.
- JUnit derivatives for our purposes
(= more systematic testing) - if we can’t find something suitable,
we need to look into what we can do ourselves to ensure proper
regression testing and testing routines in general. The present
testing system is too random, and doesn’t automatize the process of
checking against earlier bugfixes when new bugs have been fixed.
- OmniGraffle —
we are already using it for small-scale drawing, I suggest we buy
full licenses for this one
- OmniOutline — it is included with our computers, and is a good tool
for developing plans, and all sorts of outline activities more
advanced than what can be done with the wiki format
Updated software list
After having investigated several tools and options, the following set
of tools is what we will use for the main phases of our project (editors
of different types, like SubEthaEdit, emacs and XXE, are not listed,
just assumed):
- Planning – Merlin, OmniOutline, OmniGraffle, Forrest
- Requirement Analysis and Specification – Forrest, Merlin, ArgoUML,
OmniOG
- Design and Specifiation – Forrest, Merlin, ArgoUML, OmniOG
- Implementation and Testing – Xerox, home-made testing routines,
Bugzilla
- System Integration and Testing – Bugzilla, software from
integrators, home-made testing routines
- Delivery and Maintenance – Forrest, CVS, Bugzilla
What is still open, is how to test Aspell and similar engines, as well
as the hyphenation. For Aspell and other Unix spellers, a lot of testing
can be automated, and the routines needs to be worked out. All testing
needs to be formalised, and the results should be collected
systematically, preferably automatically, and stored and processed to
monitor the development of the tools.
UML References
UML is news to most of us, so here’s a list of references.