A hypercode software engineering environment represents all plausible multimedia artifacts concerned with software development and evolution that can be placed or generated on-line, from source code to formal documentation to digital library resources to informal email and chat transcripts. A hypercode environment supports both internal (hypertext) and external (link server) links among these artifacts, which can be added incrementally as useful connections are discovered; project-specific hypermedia search and browsing; automated construction of artifacts and hyperlinks according the software process; application of tools to the artifacts according to the process workflow; and collaborative work for geographically dispersed teams. We present a general architecture for what we call hypermedia subwebs, and groupspace services operating on shared subwebs, based on World Wide Web technology --- which could be applied over the Internet or within an intranet. We describe our realization in...

We describe two models for federating process-centered environments (PCEs): homogeneous federation among distinct instances of the same environment framework enacting the same or different process models, and heterogeneous federation among diverse process enactment systems. We identify the requirements and consider possible architectures for each model, although we concentrate primarily on the homogeneous case. The bulk of the paper presents our choice of architecture, and corresponding infrastructure, for homogeneous federation among Marvel environment instances as realized in the Oz system. We briefly consider how a single Marvel environment, or an Oz federation of Marvel environments, might be integrated into a heterogeneous federation based on ProcessWall's facilities for interoperating PCEs. Keywords: Collaborative work, Distributed system, Enterprise-wide environment, Geographical distribution, Internet, Process interoperability, Software process, Workflow management c fl1997...

. We present a tool integration strategy based on enveloping pre-existing tools without source code modifications or recompilation, and without assuming an extension language, application programming interface, or any other special capabilities on the part of the tool. This Black Box enveloping (or wrapping) idea has existed for a long time, but was previously restricted to relatively simple tools. We describe the design and implementation of, and experimentation with, a new Black Box enveloping facility intended for sophisticated tools --- with particular concern for the emerging class of groupware applications. Keywords: Tool integration, workflow, computer-supported cooperative work, computer-aided software engineering 1. Introduction Process-centered environments (PCEs) and other task-oriented frameworks (see, e.g., the NIST/ECMA reference model [46]) usually support dialogues between external tools and the environment, which serves as a mechanism for integrating the tools accor...

We describe two models for federating process-centered environments, homogeneous federation where the interoperability is among distinct process models enacted by different copies of the same system and heterogeneous federation with interoperability among distinct process enactment systems. We identify the requirements and possible architectures for each model. The bulk of the paper presents the specific architecture and infrastructure for homogeneous federation we realized in the Oz system. We briefly consider how Oz might be integrated into a heterogeneous federation to serve as one of its interoperating PCEs. Keywords: Collaborative work, Distributed system, Enterprise-wide process, Geographical distribution, Internet, Software process, Workflow management c fl1996, Israel Z. Ben-Shaul and Gail E. Kaiser This paper is based on work sponsored in part by Advanced Research Project Agency under ARPA Order B128 monitoredby Air Force Rome Lab F30602-94-C-0197, in part by National Science...

The development of large software systems is teamwork that requires tool support for coordinating cooperative activities, maintaining project control and sharing information. Existing collaborative environments that aim to support cooperative software development often try to predefine and automate the development process. This leads to problems since software development is a highly dynamic process where creativity, uncertainty, informal communication and incremental modification play important roles. We present an environment for distributed cooperative software development that supports informal communication as well as planning, defining, manipulating and supervising cooperative development activities. Our environment accommodates the highly dynamic development process

Group support systems impose specific requirements on the underlying infrastructure regarding communication, configuration and data management. In this paper we concentrate on computer-supported cooperative work in the area of software development. We present the main principles of an experimental toolset for cooperative software development, outline specific demands on the underlying infrastructure for such kinds of applications, and describe an object-oriented infrastructure that offers appropriate solutions for the identified requirements. The infrastructure is implemented as a suite of object-oriented frameworks. In addition to general services for distributed object-oriented applications, we offer services like group communication, configuration and object sharing that are

Operating systems are one of the most frequently reused software components: almost every application is sitting on top of an OS which establishes the required runtime platform. It is claimed that bridging the gap between a high level application design and the OS is a costly process, especially in distributed systems. A conceptual framework is presented which aims at supporting the automatic generation of distributed runtime platforms from high-level application designs. It is based on the generic layout of operating system services, their extended description including nonfunctional properties, as well as analysis and development tools which filter out OS requirements from the application

We present an architecture for a distributed tool service which operates over HTTP, the underlying protocol of the World Wide Web. This allows unmodified Web browsers to request tool executions from the server as well as making integration with existing systems easier. We describe Rivendell, a prototype implementation of the architecture described. Keywords: tool service, world wide web, http, resource management, url This paper is based on work sponsored in part by Advanced Research Project Agency under [D]ARPA Order B128 monitored by Air Force Rome Lab F30602-94-C-0197. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the US government, DARPA or the Air Force. 1 Introduction Software tools are to the engineer as the hammer and chisel are to the carpenter: essential components in accomplishing the daily tasks required by his or her work. Imagine telling...

We have developed an architecture and realization of a framework for hypermedia collaboration environments that support purposeful work by orchestrated teams. The hypermedia represents all plausible multimedia artifacts concerned with the collaborative task(s) at hand that can be placed or generated on-line, from application-specific materials (e.g., source code, chip layouts, blueprints) to formal documentation to digital library resources to informal email and chat transcripts. The environment capabilities include both internal (hypertext) and external (link server) links among these artifacts, which can be added incrementally as useful connections are discovered; project-specific hypermedia search and browsing; automated construction of artifacts and hyperlinks according to the semantics of the group and individual tasks and the overall process workflow; application of tools to the artifacts; and collaborative work for geographically dispersed teams. We present a general architectur...

GENESIS is an Open Source distributed platform supporting cooperative software engineering. All requirements concerning cooperation, collaboration, and coordination have been derived from actual user needs, collected from some of the largest software development companies in the European scenario; moreover, an integrated approach, merging both process-centered and product-centered ones, has been adopted. In this paper we present such two basic facets of GENESIS, which constitute some of the main achievements of the project, and therefore provide an innovative platform to be experienced both by practitioners and researchers. 1.