A Rapid Prototype Of INUsing A Production System

Abstract

Circumstances prevented us from launching a full-scale project for second-generation IN. Instead, we had to settle for a smaller scale priminary research. In order for this research to be a part of the whole implementation cycle, if any, we chose the rapid prototyping approach. The first prototype serves several purposes, which include: analyze CS-1 draft recommendations, draw the requirements and model for Service Creation, provide tools for service design prior to major implementation activity. The first prototype was built using a production system. A production system helps the user concentrate on the knowledge of the nature of the domain, instead of programming details which usually include "flow of control." The prototype mainly modeled the aspects of Global Functional Plane with some DFP aspect of the basic call process which were necessary for the call/service simulation. Eight of the CS-1 SIBs, including the BCP SIB, were implemented in the prototype. An X/Motif-based graphic editor (for editing a GSL) and a graphic telephone/network simulator (for demonstrating the behaviour of the service defined by the GSL) was built independent of the prototype and losely combined via UNIX stream sockets and a simple parser.