About Computer-aided Software Engineering (case) Tools And Their Limitations

       

           With progressive developments in Information Technology (IT), there has been a significant expansion in the purview of software development support tools. From tools purely for the purpose of development of software like debuggers, code analyzers, editors et al, the focus has gradually shifted to CASE tools, acronym for Computer Aided Software Engineering tools, with more sturdy and capable computers in wide use.


 Per se, the process of custom software programming typically involves analysis, design, documentation and eventual code generation in a particular language followed by maintenance of the software viz. version updating and so on. Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tools automate the methods for these processes and hence
 Quicken the process of development of software
 Ease the maintenance of any software
 Apply an engineering approach to the entire software development and maintenance process.

 But naturally, CASE tools make up the integral part of todays custom software development services.

 In tandem with the various stages of development of software, there are various CASE tools available for use, which are implemented both collectively and individually during custom software programming, depending upon the discretion of the various custom software development services. The various CASE tools typically used by custom software development services include,

 Data Modeling tools
 Configuration Management tools
 Source code generation tools
 Model transformation tools
 Refactoring tools
 Unified Modeling Language

 Beyond doubt, CASE tools are generally very helpful in easing the entire process of software development and integration. However, there are some prevalent issues as well that keep the software development and user communities vigilant, namely,

 Lack of standardisation across different CASE tools developer companies may hamper smooth communication/ integration between different CASE tools.

 Impractical expectations out of CASE technology are another major handicap as developers tend to confuse its use for substantially cheaper development of software , which is not true. Also, developers cannot always expect quickened implementations of the developed software, especially when implementing CASE technology into a traditional software development environment.

 Unreliable access control to CASE repositories typically makes the custom software programming vulnerable to security breaches or damages to documentation, code and system design. 

Software Configuration Management

Software Configuration Management (SCM) is a tool that is used to manage change. Let's say Bob and Susan are both tech writers and both are working on updates to a technical manual. During a meeting, their manager assigns them each a section of the same document to update.
The technical manual is stored on a computer that both Bob and Susan can access. Without any SCM tool or process in place, a number of problems could arise. One possible scenario is the computer storing the document might be set up so that Bob and Susan can not both work on the manual at the same time. This would slow them down considerably.
A more dangerous situation arises when the storage computer does allow the document to be opened by both Bob and Susan at the same time. Here is what could happen:

1. Bob opens the document on his computer and works on his section.


2. Susan opens the document on her computer and works on her section.


3. Bob completes his changes and saves the document on the storage computer.


4. Susan completes her changes and saves the document on the storage computer.

This illustration shows the problem that