A SOFTWARE-DESIGN FRAMEWORK OR HOW TO SUPPORT REAL DESIGNERS

The problems inherent in capturing a designer's ideas about software p rovide a major difficulty for software development. In the paper, both observed designer practices and the procedural forms that are embodie d in software design methods are examined. From these an integrated se t of representation forms is proposed that can be used with an opportu nistic design strategy. The features necessary for the realisation of this set of notations through the experimental GOOSE system, as well a s their use for such activities as design execution, are described. Fi nally, there is an informal assessment of how well the eventual form o f GOOSE has met its own design goals.