Thesis (MEng (Civil Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / An extended project was undertaken to develop structural design software (called the integrated software) that supports network collaboration. Three projects preceded this thesis study in which the development of the integrated software was initiated. In these projects three software architectures were developed for a finite element model, a structural steel member design model and a structural steel connection design model. These projects cover the analysis and design aspects of the integrated software. This thesis study addresses the communication aspects of the integrated software. The communication aspects include communication between the various modules of the integrated software as well communication between people and between people and the software. No graphical user interface for the creation of finite element models was developed in the preceding projects, which was done in this thesis. The models developed in the preceding projects must be able to communicate with one another in order for the software to operate as a whole. Some of the communication links required in the integrated software are established in this thesis study. The communication of the integrated software is not to be confined to a local workstation. Therefore a software architecture is built into the integrated software in order to support network communication, thereby making network-based collaborative design a real possibility. The integrated software that is being developed is specifically for use by structural engineers. Therefore the engineers’ opinion of such design software that supports network collaboration is invaluable. In the last part of the thesis practicing engineers the views of are reported on topics of how collaborative designs could be done in practice and how it could be supported by design software. The results of the interviews are then summarized and an assessment is made of the engineers’ requirements for software that supports network collaboration. Finally recommendations are made for the future development of the integrated software.

Thesis (Ph. D., Information and Computer Science)--University of California, Irvine, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2006. / Description based on contents viewed Jan. 26, 2007; title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references (p. 200-214).

<p>Software engineering tools are being used in the industry in order to improve the productivity and the quality of the software development process. The properties of those tools are being perceived to be unsatisfactory. For example, researchers have found that some problems are due to deficient integration among the tools. Furthermore, a continuing problem is that there is a gap between the IT education and real demand of tool-skills form IT industry. Consequently, knowledge is needed of the properties of software development tools as well an understanding of demanded tool-skill from the industry. </p><p>The purpose of this study is to survey commercial software development environment (SDEs) that are used today in professional software engineering and discuss their advantages adn disadvantages. A secondary goal of the study is to identify the actual requirements from the industry on the IT-education. </p><p>A questionnaire was sent out to 90 software developers and IT managers of 30 IT companies in Sweden. The results of the survey show that IT companies, for most part, use SDEs from commercial software vendors. Respondents report that common problems of the SDEs are the following: bad integration among the tools, problems to trace software artifacts in the different phases of the programming cycle, and deficient support for version control and system configuration. Furthermore, some tools are difficult to use which results in a time-consuming development process. </p><p>We conclude that future software development environments need to provide better support for integration, automation, and configuration management. Regarding the required tool-skills, we believe that the IT education would gain from including commercial tools that cover the whole software product lifecycle in the curriculum.</p>

Software engineering tools are being used in the industry in order to improve the productivity and the quality of the software development process. The properties of those tools are being perceived to be unsatisfactory. For example, researchers have found that some problems are due to deficient integration among the tools. Furthermore, a continuing problem is that there is a gap between the IT education and real demand of tool-skills form IT industry. Consequently, knowledge is needed of the properties of software development tools as well an understanding of demanded tool-skill from the industry. The purpose of this study is to survey commercial software development environment (SDEs) that are used today in professional software engineering and discuss their advantages adn disadvantages. A secondary goal of the study is to identify the actual requirements from the industry on the IT-education. A questionnaire was sent out to 90 software developers and IT managers of 30 IT companies in Sweden. The results of the survey show that IT companies, for most part, use SDEs from commercial software vendors. Respondents report that common problems of the SDEs are the following: bad integration among the tools, problems to trace software artifacts in the different phases of the programming cycle, and deficient support for version control and system configuration. Furthermore, some tools are difficult to use which results in a time-consuming development process. We conclude that future software development environments need to provide better support for integration, automation, and configuration management. Regarding the required tool-skills, we believe that the IT education would gain from including commercial tools that cover the whole software product lifecycle in the curriculum.