US 4,809,170 AGranted

Computer device for aiding in the development of software system

AssigneeApollo Computer, Inc.

InventorsDavid B. Leblang, Gordon McLean, Jr., Howard Spilke, Robert P. Chase, Jr.

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Abstract

A support system for Computer-Aided Software Engineer (CASE) applications provides configuration management and features such as transparent retrieval of named versions of program sequences on a line by line basis as well as task monitoring and reporting. A modification record is maintained for all changes to the modules in the system build library by version numbers. Any version of a module can be obtained on a line by line basis as well as several different versions simultaneously thus supporting multiple concurrent system work on different versions by multiple users. Module monitoring is provided whereby if a module is modified when it is being monitored, all persons who might be affected thereby are notified. Task monitoring also provides notification and monitoring of tasks being accomplished as well as "blueprints" to follow in the future for the accomplishment of the same or similar tasks.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A computer device for building a software system having a sequence of components, the device comprising:

(a) computer means for executing pre-established logic sequences and for reading from and writing to memory;
(b) source code memory means for storing a basic source code for each component of a plurality of software systems, each component comprising a plurality of sequential statements, and for storing, for each basic source code of a component, a sequence of modifications to the respective source code, each modification defining a different version of the respective component and being identified by a version number;
(c) build list means for designating the sequence of said component of a desired software system to be built;
(d) version list means for listing on a rule basis user desired possible versions of each of said components of the desired software system to be built;
(e) version designation means for dynamically designating on a component-by-component basis the version number to be currently employed during the building of said desired software system;
(f) GET statement logic sequence means to be executed by said computer means for accessing the source code memory means and for providing on request the next statement in sequence of a designated version of a component in the source code memory means according to the version currently designated by said version designation means;
(g) derived object pool memory means for receiving and holding translated components of said desired software system as the system is being built;
and
(h) system build logic sequence means to be executed by said computer means for establishing from said build list means and said version list means a sequence of components by version numbers, corresponding to rule satisfying versions of the components, to be used to build the desired software system, for periodically setting said version designation means to reflect the version number of a component to be currently translated by any one of different translators supported by the computer means, for sequentially accessing said GET statement logic sequence means to sequentially obtain the rule satisfying versions of the components on a statement by statement basis from the source code memory means, and for using said statements to build from the translated components the desired software system comprising the designated components and rule satisfying versions thereof in said pool memory area.

6 more elements

A computer device for building software systems having a plurality of elements, each element comprising a sequence of logic statements, the device comprising:

an operating system having at least one computer language translator;
source code memory means for storing versions of elements of various software systems;
a system model providing an indication of elements and a sequence of the elements to be used to build a desired software system;
a configuration thread providing a rule-based indication of user chosen possible versions of each element of the desired software system;
a version designator table for providing the translator an indication of the version of an element to be currently translated, the table being settable in a manner so as to dynamically provide an indication of version of an element on an element by element basis during the building of the desired software system;
and
a system builder combining and evaluating the indications of the system model and configuration thread to form a bound configuration thread for the desired software system, the system builder determining a version of an element in the system model and setting the version designator table to indicate the version of the element according to the bound configuration thread, such that as the version of an element is indicated by the table, the system builder enables the operating system to read form the source code memory means the version of the element indicated by the table and enables the translator to translate the version of the element, the system builder setting the version designator table for each element of the desired software system.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.