Component-Based Software (October 1997)

Debugging Component-Based Software for Enterprise Systems

Sponsor: Averstar, Inc. (formerly Intermetrics, Inc.)

• Project Performance Period: 10/13/1997 - 1/11/2000
• Total project (est.): $2,670,166.00
• Requested ATP funds: $1,665,419.00

Software and systems are increasingly built of components that are assembled and integrated to serve a specific function in the enterprise. The assembled components both now and in the future will be heterogeneous; written in different languages including Java, C and C++, using different object models including Java Beans, COM+ and Corba, and will continue to embrace valuable legacy systems. Complexity increases as multiple processes execute locally and remotely using diverse hardware, operating systems, and different network protocols. No tools are available for debugging software and systems that are assembled from heterogeneous components. The dynamic nature of the application development market makes it difficult for competing vendors to invest in debugging tools when product functionality is still driving the evolution of their products and, frequently, the viability of their companies. However, Intermetrics estimates it is worth $1 billion to the U.S. economy over a five-year period to deliver debugging tools that can dramatically increase developer productivity, improve the reliability of the resulting systems, and shorten the delivery time of component-based software and systems. Intermetrics proposes to develop a tool for quickly detecting and debugging incompatibilities in distributed, software components. The tool will take advantage of information captured during component development, so that programmers will be able to focus on anomalies in component behavior and interaction instead of details of each component supplier's framework. This message-based debugging aspect of the tool will display message traffic among software components in a variety of useful ways, including application-specific viewers. Messages will be captured by software "probes" placed at key points to intercept, interpret, display, and play back messages sent by the components. The most technically challenging aspect of the Intermetrics tool is automating the placement of the probes and enabling creation of the application-specific viewers by interpreting semantic knowledge of components captured during their development.

For project information:

Pat Byrne, (781) 221-6990
pbyrne@intermetrics.com

ATP Project Manager

Barbara Cuthill, (301) 975-3273
barbara.cuthill@nist.gov