Chapter 8

Software Prototyping

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

Software Prototyping
Rapid software development to validate
requirements

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

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 3

Topics covered
Prototyping in the software process
Prototyping techniques
User interface prototyping

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

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

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

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

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

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 7
Prototyping process

Establish Define
Develop Evaluate
prototype prototype
prototype prototype
objectives functionality

Prototyping Outline Executable Evaluation

plan definition prototype report

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

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

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

Prototyping in the software
process
Evolutionary prototyping
An approach to system development where an initial prototype
is produced and refined through a number of stages to the final
system
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

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

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 11

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 12

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 13

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 14

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 15

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 16

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 17

Prototypes as specifications
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

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

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

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

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 20

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 21

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 22

Prototype delivery
Developers may be pressurised to deliver a
throw-away prototype as a final system
This is not recommended
It may be impossible to tune the prototype to meet non-
functional requirements
The prototype is inevitably undocumented
The system structure will be degraded through changes made
during development
Normal organisational quality standards may not have been
applied

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

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

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

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 25

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. However,
there may be problems with language
communications

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

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

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

Database programming

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 28

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 29

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

Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 30

Reusable component composition

Reusable Component
software Executable
composition
prototype
components framework

Control and
integration code

Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 31

Compound documents
For some applications, a prototype can be created by
developing a compound document
This is a document with active elements (such as a
spreadsheet) that allow user computations
Each active element has an associated application which
is invoked when that element is selected
The document itself is the integrator for the different
applications

Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 32

Application linking in compound documents

Compound document

Text 1 Table 1 Text 2 Text 3 Sound 1

Table 2 Text 4 Sound 2 Text 5

Word processor Spreadsheet Audio player

Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 33

Visual programming
Scripting languages such as Visual Basic support
visual programming where 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 34

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 35

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 36

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

Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 8 Slide 37

Key points
A prototype can be used to give end-users a concrete
impression of the systems capabilities
Prototyping is becoming increasingly used for system
development 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 38

Key points
Rapid development of prototypes is essential. This 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 39