System and method for interactive and assisted program development

• US 20070245322A1
• Filed: 04/12/2006
• Published: 10/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Varma, Pradeep, Anand, Ashok, Tibbitts, Beth, Pazel, Donald, Paradkar, Amitkumar
• Granted Patent: US 7,721,250 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/140
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design

Abstract

A system (and method, and method for deploying computing infrastructure) for facilitating fixing program development errors found during different phases of program development using different programming tools, such as compilers, linkers, library managers, and debuggers, and can be integrated into a program development environment encompassing all tools. The exemplary aspects of the present invention can detect a qualified set of problems from which to recover with sufficient information, as typically provided by a user or other intelligent or artificial intelligent means, and upon error detection, can initiate a communication with the user (or other support software), to acquire information that could remedy the problem.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for integrated software processes in an interactive software system, the method comprising:

remediating an execution cycle of said interactive software system based on an analytical information from said software processes in the interactive software system prior to a completion of the execution cycle of said interactive software system.

2. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, the method comprising:

identifying said analytical information from said software processes in the interactive software system prior to said completion of said execution cycle of said interactive software system.

3. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein said analytical information comprises:

at least one of a program development error and a limitation prior to the completion of the execution cycle of said interactive software system, and repairing at least one of the program development error and the limitation prior to the completion of the execution cycle of said interactive software system.

4. The computer-implemented method according to claim 2, wherein said identifying comprises:

detecting a predetermined set of problems for which information can be obtained to remedy at least one of said problems prior to the completion of said execution cycle of said interactive software system, and

wherein said method further comprises;

initiating communication with at least one of a user and a support software to obtain said information to remedy one of said problems prior to the completion of execution cycle of said interactive software system.

5. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein said method comprises:

continuing said execution cycle of said interactive software system after performing said remediating.

6. The computer-implemented method according to claim 2, wherein said identifying comprises:

identifying at least one of a functional program development limitation and a non-functional program development limitation during different phases of said execution cycle of said interactive software system, and

wherein said remediating comprises;

p2 interactively repairing the at least one of the functional program development limitation and the non-functional program development limitation at said different phases of said execution cycle of said interactive software system.

7. The computer-implemented method according to claim 2, wherein an error policy is applied to the identified analytical information, and

wherein, upon acceptance of the identified analytical information according to a qualification by said error policy, an error remediation of said error policy is applied to fix said identified analytical information.

19. A method of deploying computing infrastructure in which recordable, computer-readable code is integrated into a computing system, and combines with said computing system to perform the method according to claim 1.

20. A signal-bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of recordable, machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform the method according to claim 1.

8. A computer-implemented method for programming tool engagement and enhancement in an interactive program development system, the method comprising:

detecting a tool-specific condition prior to termination of an execution cycle of a programming tool;

engaging at least one of a user and a support software to obtain information related to said tool-specific condition;

based on a result of said engaging, invoking ancillary means for processing said tool-specific condition; and

continuing execution of said programming tool after invoking said ancillary means for processing said tool-specific condition.

9. The computer-implemented method according to claim 8, wherein said tool-specific condition comprises at least one functional exception, and

wherein said functional exception includes at least one of:

a file-not-found, a CPU overload, an excessive stack size, a blocked process, and a frequent context switch.

10. The computer-implemented method according to claim 8, further comprising:

providing an interface for at least one of plugging in different system tools, allowing individual tool-user dialogs to be described to the method, and allowing standardized presentation of diverse dialogs via the interface.

11. The computer-implemented method according to claim 8, further comprising:

automatically changing a program variable name to a unique name, regardless of lexical/dynamic scoping conventions of tool input.

12. An interactive software system for integrated software processes, the system comprising:

a remediating unit that remediates an execution cycle of said interactive software system based on an analytical information from said software processes in the interactive software system prior to a completion of the execution cycle of said interactive software system.

13. The system according to claim 12, comprising:

an identifying unit that identifies said analytical information from said software processes in the interactive software system prior to said completion of said execution cycle of said interactive software system, said identifying unit providing an input to said remediating unit.

14. The system according to claim 12, wherein said analytical information comprises:

at least one of a program development error and a limitation prior to completion of the execution cycle of said interactive software system, and

wherein said remediating unit repairs at least one of the program development error and the limitation prior to the completion of the execution cycle of said interactive software system.

15. The system according to claim 13, wherein said identifying unit detects a predetermined set of problems for which information can be obtained to remedy at least one of said problems prior to the completion of said execution cycle of said interactive software system, and

wherein said system further comprises:

a communication unit that initiates communication with at least one of a user and a support software to obtain said information to remedy said at least one of said problems prior to the completion of execution cycle of said interactive software system.

16. An interactive software development system, including a plurality of programming tools, the system comprising:

error detecting means for identifying a software development error prior to completion of an execution cycle of said software development system; and

error repairing means for repairing the software development error prior to the completion of the execution cycle of said software development system.

17. The system according to claim 16, further comprising:

interface means for initiating communication with at least one of a user and a support software to obtain information to remedy said identified software development error prior to the completion of the execution cycle of said software development system.

18. The system according to claim 16, wherein one of said programming tools comprises:

at least one of a compiler, a linker, a library builder, a library manager, a debugger, and a program editor.