Automation of Software Application Engineering Using Machine Learning and Reasoning

• US 20110099532A1
• Filed: 10/23/2009
• Published: 04/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Coldicott, Peter A., Gonzalez, Celso, Lane, Eoin, Ellis, Raymond W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,607,190 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/105
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/025 Extracting rules from data

Abstract

A system for automatically creating a desired software application design. In response to an input to create a desired software application design, functional requirements for the desired software application design are retrieved. Then, non-functional requirements associated with each retrieved functional requirement are retrieved. In addition, software models associated with the retrieved functional requirements are retrieved. Further, software patterns associated with the retrieved non-functional requirements are retrieved. Then, the retrieved software models are transformed into software code for the desired software application design. Also, the retrieved software patterns are applied to associated code sequences in the software code to automatically create an architecture for the desired software application design. Finally, the architecture for the desired software application design is outputted for use by a user. The decisions made during the software application design process are also captured for analysis for future improvement of the desired software application design.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method in a data processing system for automatically creating a desired software application design, the computer implemented method comprising computer implemented steps of:

responsive to an input to create a desired software application design, retrieving functional requirements for the desired software application design from a requirement module;

retrieving non-functional requirements associated with each retrieved functional requirement from the requirement module;

retrieving software models associated with the retrieved functional requirements from an industry model repository;

retrieving software patterns associated with the retrieved non-functional requirements from a pattern asset adviser;

transforming the retrieved software models into software code for the desired software application design;

applying the retrieved software patterns to associated code sequences in the software code to automatically create an architecture for the desired software application design; and

outputting the architecture for the desired software application design for use by a user.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of an industry type for the desired software application design; and

receiving a selection of an architectural style for the desired software application design.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

recording the industry type, the architectural style, the retrieved functional requirements, the retrieved software patterns, the retrieved software models, the retrieved software patterns, the transforming of the retrieved software models into software code, and the applying of the retrieved software patterns to the associated code sequences in the software code used to automatically create the architecture for the desired software application design in the requirement module for future reference.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the software models are automatically retrieved by the industry model repository based on the retrieved functional requirements for the desired software application design.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the software patterns are automatically retrieved by the pattern asset adviser based on the retrieved non-functional requirements for each retrieved functional requirement.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein the industry model repository utilizes a topic map to maintain associations between functional requirements and software models.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 5, wherein the pattern asset adviser utilizes a topic map to maintain associations between non-functional requirements and software patterns.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein the retrieved functional requirements for the desired software application design are based on the selected industry type.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein the retrieved software patterns are applied to the associated code sequences in the software code based on the selected architectural style.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the transforming and applying steps are performed by a transformation, learning, and reasoning engine using a series of rules.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein the selected architectural style is a service-oriented architecture.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the software models and the software patterns are reusable software assets.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the retrieved functional requirements define what the desired software application design can be expected to accomplish within a particular context.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the retrieved non-functional requirements define global constraints that must be satisfied by the desired software application design, and wherein the retrieved non-functional requirements determine how the desired software application design is built within a particular context.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein a software pattern represents a repeatable solution to a problem in a particular context.

16. A data processing system for automatically creating a software application design, comprising:

a bus system;

a storage device connected to the bus system, wherein the storage device includes a set of instructions; and

a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to retrieve functional requirements for a desired software application design from a requirement module in response to an input to create the desired software application design;

retrieve non-functional requirements associated with each retrieved functional requirement from the requirement module;

retrieve software models associated with the retrieved functional requirements from an industry model repository;

retrieve software patterns associated with the retrieved non-functional requirements from a pattern asset adviser;

transform the retrieved software models into software code for the desired software application design;

apply the retrieved software patterns to associated code sequences in the software code to automatically create an architecture for the desired software application design; and

output the architecture for the desired software application design for use by a user.

17. A computer program product stored in a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therein for automatically creating a software application design, the computer program product comprising:

computer usable program code configured to retrieve functional requirements for a desired software application design from a requirement module in response to an input to create the desired software application design;

computer usable program code configured to retrieve non-functional requirements associated with each retrieved functional requirement from the requirement module;

computer usable program code configured to retrieve software models associated with the retrieved functional requirements from an industry model repository;

computer usable program code configured to retrieve software patterns associated with the retrieved non-functional requirements from a pattern asset adviser;

computer usable program code configured to transform the retrieved software models into software code for the desired software application design;

computer usable program code configured to apply the retrieved software patterns to associated code sequences in the software code to automatically create an architecture for the desired software application design; and

computer usable program code configured to output the architecture for the desired software application design for use by a user.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising:

computer usable program code configured to receive a selection of an industry type for the desired software application design; and

computer usable program code configured to receive a selection of an architectural style for the desired software application design.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the software models are automatically retrieved by the industry model repository based on the retrieved functional requirements for the desired software application design.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the software patterns are automatically retrieved by the pattern asset adviser based on the retrieved non-functional requirements for each retrieved functional requirement.