Jackson System Development, Entity-Relationship Analysis and Data Flow Models: AComparative Study

摘要

This paper compares Jackson System Development (JSD) with Entity-Relationship(ER) modelling and with data flow modelling. It is shown that the JSD method can be combined with ER modelling and that the result is a richer method than either of the two. The resulting method can serve as a basis for a practical object-oriented modelling method and has some resemblance to parts of well-known methods, like OMT. It is also argued that JSD and data flow modelling rest on opposite philosophies and cannot be combined in one modelling effort. This is illustrated by transforming a JSD model into a data flow model and listing the differences between the models. The results of this analysis are extrapolated to object-oriented models.