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Software Prototyping

Prototyping is used to help understand requirements, reduce risks, and get early feedback. There are two main types: evolutionary prototyping develops an initial prototype and refines it into the final system, while throw-away prototyping develops a prototype to validate requirements before discarding it and developing the full system. Rapid prototyping techniques include using dynamic languages, database programming, component assembly, and user interface generators to quickly create prototypes.

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120 views28 pages

Software Prototyping

Prototyping is used to help understand requirements, reduce risks, and get early feedback. There are two main types: evolutionary prototyping develops an initial prototype and refines it into the final system, while throw-away prototyping develops a prototype to validate requirements before discarding it and developing the full system. Rapid prototyping techniques include using dynamic languages, database programming, component assembly, and user interface generators to quickly create prototypes.

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tagoreitdept
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Software Prototyping

System prototyping
Prototyping is the rapid development of a system In the past, the developed system was normally thought of as inferior in some way to the required system so further development was required Now, the boundary between prototyping and normal system development is blurred and many systems are developed using an evolutionary approach

Uses of system prototypes


The principal use is to help customers and developers understand the requirements for the system Requirements elicitation. Users can experiment with a prototype to see how the system supports their work Requirements validation. The prototype can reveal errors and omissions in the requirements Prototyping can be considered as a risk reduction activity which reduces requirements risks

Prototyping benefits
Misunderstandings between software users and developers are exposed Missing services may be detected and confusing services may be identified A working system is available early in the process The prototype may serve as a basis for deriving a system specification The system can support user training and system testing

Prototyping benefits
Improved system usability Closer match to the system needed Improved design quality Improved maintainability Reduced overall development effort

Prototyping in the software process


1. Evolutionary prototyping

An approach to system development where an initial prototype is produced and refined through a number of stages to the final system
2. Throw-away prototyping

A prototype which is usually a practical implementation of the system is produced to help discover requirements problems and then discarded. The system is then developed using some other development process

Prototyping objectives
The objective of evolutionary prototyping is to deliver a working system to end-users. The development starts with those requirements which are best understood. The objective of throw-away prototyping is to validate or derive the system requirements. The prototyping process starts with those requirements which are poorly understood

Evolutionary prototyping
Must be used for systems where the specification cannot be developed in advance e.g. AI systems and user interface systems Based on techniques which allow rapid system iterations Verification is impossible as there is no specification. Validation means demonstrating the adequacy of the system

Evolutionary prototyping advantages


Accelerated delivery of the system
Rapid delivery and deployment are sometimes more important than functionality or long-term software maintainability

User engagement with the system


Not only is the system more likely to meet user requirements, they are more likely to commit to the use of the system

Evolutionary prototyping
Specification, design and implementation are inter-twined The system is developed as a series of increments that are delivered to the customer Techniques for rapid system development are used such as CASE tools and 4GLs User interfaces are usually developed using a GUI development toolkit

Evolutionary prototyping problems


Management problems
Existing management processes assume a waterfall model of development Specialist skills are required which may not be available in all development teams

Maintenance problems
Continual change tends to corrupt system structure so longterm maintenance is expensive

Contractual problems

Incremental development
System is developed and delivered in increments after establishing an overall architecture Requirements and specifications for each increment may be developed Users may experiment with delivered increments while others are being developed. therefore, these serve as a form of prototype system Intended to combine some of the advantages of prototyping but with a more manageable process and better system structure

Throw-away prototyping
Used to reduce requirements risk The prototype is developed from an initial specification, delivered for experiment then discarded The throw-away prototype should NOT be considered as a final system Some system characteristics may have been left out There is no specification for long-term maintenance The system will be poorly structured and difficult to maintain

Throw-away prototyping disadvantages


Some parts of the requirements (e.g. safety critical functions) may be impossible to prototype and so dont appear in the specification An implementation has no legal standing as a contract Non-functional requirements cannot be adequately tested in a system prototype Developers may be pressurised to deliver a throwaway prototype as a final system This is not recommended It may be impossible to tune the prototype to meet nonfunctional requirements The prototype is inevitably undocumented The system structure will be degraded through changes made during development Normal organizational quality standards may not have been applied

Rapid prototyping techniques


Various techniques may be used for rapid development Dynamic high-level language development Database programming Component and application assembly
These are not exclusive techniques - they are often used together Visual programming is an inherent part of most prototype development systems

Dynamic high-level languages


Languages which include powerful data management facilities Need a large run-time support system. Not normally used for large system development Some languages offer excellent UI development facilities Some languages have an integrated support environment whose facilities may be used in the prototype

Database programming languages


Domain specific languages for business systems based around a database management system Normally include a database query language, a screen generator, a report generator and a spreadsheet. May be integrated with a CASE toolset The language + environment is sometimes known as a fourth-generation language (4GL) Cost-effective for small to medium sized business systems

Component and application assembly


Prototypes can be created quickly from a set of reusable components plus some mechanism to glue these component together The composition mechanism must include control facilities and a mechanism for component communication The system specification must take into account the availability and functionality of existing components

Prototyping with reuse


Application level development
Entire application systems are integrated with the prototype so that their functionality can be shared For example, if text preparation is required, a standard word processor can be used

Component level development

Individual components are integrated within a standard framework to implement the system Frame work can be a scripting language or an integration framework such as CORBA

User interface prototyping


It is impossible to pre-specify the look and feel of a user interface in an effective way. prototyping is essential UI development consumes an increasing part of overall system development costs User interface generators may be used to draw the interface and simulate its functionality with components associated with interface entities Web interfaces may be prototyped using a web site editor

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