Software Prototyping


Rapid software development to validate
requirements

Objectives
• To describe the use of prototypes in different types of
development project
• To discuss evolutionary and throw-away prototyping
• To introduce three rapid prototyping techniques -
high-level language development, database
programming and component reuse
• To explain the need for user interface prototyping

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 1

System prototyping

Prototyping is the rapid development of a system

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

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 2

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

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 3

Prototyping in the software process

Evolutionary prototyping
• An initial prototype is produced and refined through
a number of stages to the final system

Throw-away prototyping
• A prototype is produced to help discover
requirements problems and then discarded
• The system is then developed using some other
development process

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 4

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

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 5

Approaches to prototyping

Evolutionary Delivered
prototyping system
Outline
Requirements
Throw-away Executable Prototype +
Prototyping System Specification

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 6

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

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 7

Evolutionary prototyping

Develop abstract Build prototype Use prototype

specification system system

Deliver YES System

system adequate?

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 8

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

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 9

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

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 10

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
long-term maintenance is expensive

Contractual problems

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 11

Prototypes as specifications

Some parts of the requirements may be
impossible to prototype
• E.g., safety-critical functions

An implementation has no legal standing as a
contract

Non-functional requirements cannot be
adequately tested in a system prototype

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 12

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
• These serve as a form of prototype system

Intended to combine some of the advantages of prototyping
• More manageable process
• Better system structure

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 13

Incremental development process
Define system
deliverables

Design system Specify system Build system Validate

architectur e increment increment increment

NO

Deliver final System Validate Integrate

system complete? system increment
YES

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 14

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

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 15

Throw-away prototyping
Outline Develop Evaluate Specify
requirements prototype prototype system

Reusable
components

Delivered
Develop Validate software
software system system

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 16

Rapid prototyping techniques

Various techniques may be used for rapid
development
• Dynamic high-level language development
• Database programming
• Component and application assembly

These techniques are often used together

Visual programming is an inherent part of most
prototype development systems

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 17

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

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 18

Choice of prototyping language

What is the application domain of the problem?

What user interaction is required?

What support environment comes with the
language?

Different parts of the system may be programmed
in different languages

Example languages
• Java, Smalltalk, Lisp, Prolog, Perl, Tcl/TK

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 19

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 “4GL”

Cost-effective for small to medium sized business systems
Interface
generator Spreadsheet

DB Report
programming generator
language

Database management system

Fourth-gener ation language

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 20

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

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 21

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
• Framework can be a scripting language or an integration
framework such as CORBA

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 22

Visual programming

Scripting languages such as Visual Basic support
visual programming
• the prototype is developed by creating a user
interface from standard items and associating
components with these items

A large library of components exists to support
this type of development

These may be tailored to suit the specific
application requirements

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 23

Visual programming with reuse
Hypertext
Date component display component

File Edit Views Layout Options Help

General
12th January 2000 Index
Range checking 3.876
script
User prompt
component +
Draw canvas script
component

Tree display
component

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 24

Problems with visual development

Difficult to coordinate team-based development

No explicit system architecture

Complex dependencies between parts of the
program can cause maintainability problems

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 25

User interface prototyping

It is impossible to pre-specify the look and feel of a
user interface in an effective way

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

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 26

Key points

A prototype can be used to give end-users a concrete
impression of the system’s capabilities

Prototyping is becoming increasingly used where
rapid development is essential

Throw-away prototyping is used to understand the
system requirements

In evolutionary prototyping, the system is developed
by evolving an initial version to the final version

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 27

Key points

Rapid prototyping may require leaving out
functionality or relaxing non-functional constraints

Prototyping techniques include the use of very
high-level languages, database programming and
prototype construction from reusable components

Prototyping is essential for parts of the system such
as the user interface which cannot be effectively
pre-specified

Users must be involved in prototype evaluation

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 28