The System Architect's Assistant for design and construction of distributed systems

Distributed systems are conveniently described, constructed and managed in terms of their software structure or architecture. However, few current platforms exploit the architectural view. The authors outline current work on the provision of an architectural methodology and graphical support tool, the System Architect's Assistant, for the design and engineering of distributed systems. The tool supports both initial informal design decomposition and subsequent rigorously checked composition when a set of specified, designed and/or implemented components are integrated to analyze and/or construct the desired distributed system. The effectiveness of the methodology and prototype tool are assessed by applying it to case studies supplied by an industrial associate and by conducting controlled productivity experiments.<>