《Architecture Design》.pdf

, , 1{34 () c Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston. Manufactured in The Netherlands. Extending Design Environments to Software Architecture Design JASON E. ROBBINS, DAVID M. HILBERT, DAVID F. REDMILES fjrobbins,dhi lb ert,redmiles g@ University of California, Irvine R eceived February 6, 1997 Editor: Abstract. Designing a complex software system is a cognitively challenging task; thus, designers need cognitive supp ort to create go o d designs. Domain-oriented design environments are co op er- ative problem-solving systems that supp ort designers in complex design tasks. In this pap er we present the architecture and facilities of Argo, a domain-oriented design environment for software architecture . Argos own architecture is motivated by the desire to achieve reuse and extensibility of the design environment. It separates domain-neutral co de from domain-oriented co de, which is distributed among active design materials as opp osed to b eing centralized in the design environ- ment. Argos facilities are motivated by the observed cognitive needs of designers. These facilities extend previous work in design environments by enhancing supp ort for re ection-in-action, and adding new supp ort for opportunistic design and comprehension and problem solving. Keywords: Domain-oriented design environments, software architecture, human-computer inter- action, human cognitive skills, evolutionary design 1. Intro duction Designing a complex software system is a cognitively challenging task; thus, design- ers need cognitive supp ort to create go o d designs. Domain-oriented design envi- ronments (DODEs)