Exploratory prototyping through the use of frames and production rules

Exploratory prototypes allow examination and validation of the functionality of a software system under construction by observing the behavior of the system requirements brought out through an interpreter. In order to produce the exploratory prototype rapidly, a language must be available to provide freedom from implementation concerns and allow for a natural representation of the problem domain through inheritance hierarchies and exception handling mechanisms. For embedded systems the prototyping language must also allow for specification of the system as a set of concurrently executing and interacting processes. The language FRORL2, which uses frames and production rules to construct exploratory prototypes for embedded systems, is discussed.<>