Reconciling environment integration and software evolution

Abstract

Common software design approaches complicate both tool integration and software evolution when applied in the development of integrated environments. We illustrate this by tracing the evolution of three different designs for a simple integrated environment as representative changes are made to the requirements. We present an approach that eases integration and evolution by preserving tool independence in the face of integration. We design tool integration relationships as separate components called mediators , and we design tools to implicitly invoke mediators that integrate them. Mediators separate tools from each other, while implicit invocation allows tools to remain independent of mediators. To enable the use of our approach on a range of platforms, we provide a formalized model and requirements for implicit invocation mechanisms. We apply this model both to analyze existing mechanisms and in the design of a mechanism for C++.