Toward Design-by-Contract Based Generative Tool for Object-Oriented System

摘要

Code generation tools are known to be highly effective for developing an object-oriented system, as these systems require developers to design the system early in the development. With the increased adoption of Agile methods for developing and managing software processes, many software industries have been using tools such as Jira and Agilean for project planning, monitoring, release management, retrospective analysis, and activity evaluation. The advantages of utilizing these tools are building a channel for communication, organizing and prioritizing work, visibility, flexibility, and transparency. However, these tools don't provide guidance in early stages of development. This paper introduces a tool that injects a new developer-centric artifact called developer story. Developer stories are short, structural descriptions of a system blueprint. The tool directs Agile developers in creating the detailed design of a system early in the development stage, after which it generates the source code supporting the Design by Contract approach. The essence of a developer-centric tool is to focus on what the developer needs to implement. We evaluate the tool by developing a small-scale application and demonstrating how the Design by Contract approach is applied.