Method and apparatus for generating program code files

A process for producing program code files for specific applications within a generic application set, the process comprising the steps of:

• (a) defining a reusable knowledgebase including:
• standard software units comprising standard sequences of scripts, alternative scripts, and standard scripts with replaceable components, an SEL language including instructions defining rules and procedures for assembling the standard software units,
• (b) defining an application specific requirements database specifying parameters defining requirements related to a selected specific application within the generic application set,
• (c) processing the knowledgebase in accordance with the parameters specified in the application specific requirements database to produce a program code file suited to said selected specific application, and
• (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) with new sets of specified parameters to produce multiple variations of program code for a plurality of specific applications within the generic application set.

A process for producing program code files for specific applications within a generic application set, the process comprising the steps of:

• (a) defining a reusable multi-purpose database including (i) standard software units, and (ii) rules and procedures for linking said standard software units to accomplish particular purposes as defined by a set of internally stored variables,
• (b) creating a specialized application database defining a particular set of variables adapted to a specific application within the generic application set,
• (c) processing the reusable database in conjunction with the variables specified in the specialized application database to produce a program code file suited to the specific application defined by the variables in the specialized application database, and
• (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) for new sets of variables each time it is desired to produce a new specific application within the generic application set, thereby to standardize program code in the produced program code files in accordance with that stored in the reusable multi-purpose database.

A system for producing program code files for a generic application, the system being adapted to produce program code files comprising configurations of standard software units assembled to specified sets of requirements to suit specific applications within the genus, the system comprising, in combination:

• a knowledgebase containing SEL instructions defining a generic set of rules and procedures for assembling the standard software units,
• a fixed database containing the standard software units, the standard software units comprising at least standard sequences of scripts, alternative scripts, and standard scripts with replaceable components,
• a requirements database having a dictionary portion and a data portion,
• means for storing data in the requirements database, said stored data specifying parameters defining requirements related to a selected specific application, and means identifying the stored data in the dictionary, and
• program processor means for processing the SEL instructions in accordance with the generic set of rules thereof to assemble standard software units selected from the fixed database according to the parameters specified in the requirements database to produce a program code file suited to said specific application.

A system for producing program code files for specific applications within a generic application set, the system comprising, in combination:

• a reusable knowledgebase including standard software units comprising standard sequences of scripts, alternative scripts and standard scripts with replaceable components,
• an SEL language including instructions defining rules and procedures for assembling the standard software units,
• an application specific requirements database for specifying parameters defining requirements related to a selected specific application,
• a program processor for processing the knowledgebase in accordance with the parameters specified in the application specific requirements database to produce a program code file suited to said selected specific application, and
• means for altering the parameters in the application specific requirements database to specify newly defined parameters thereby to allow re-processing of the knowledgebase in accordance with the newly defined parameters specified in the application specific requirements database to produce further program code files suited to further specific applications.

A system for producing program code files for specific applications within a generic application set, the system comprising, in combination:

• a fixed database comprising a generic set of standard software units with sufficient generality to accommodate a plurality of permutations within the generic application set,
• a rules and procedures database storing a set of rules and procedures for assembling the standard set of software units into specific composed units, the structure of any particular composed unit being dependent on values of a predetermined set of variables,
• an application database for storing a particular set of variables which define a specific application within the generic set,
• means for storing a particular set of variables within the application database, and
• processing means for composing the standard software units in accordance with the rules and procedures as adapted by the variables in the application database to produce a customized program code file adapted to the specific application defined by the set of variables.