Thesis (M.Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1980. / Also available in print.

Thesis--Wisconsin. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 172-178).

M.Sc. (Computer Science) / In this thesis a study is made of graphs, graph grammars as well as grammars which represent structures in three dimensions. Structure graphs are defined for the first time in this thesis. The definition thereof is based upon that of ordinary graphs, they differ however in that certain geometric properties are assigned to the arcs of the graphs, Two different types of structure graph grammars are defined. Structure graph grammars derive structure graphs as language. The geometric properties of the structure graphs appear as context's in the grammars. A study is mode of the properties of· the structure graph grammars. A comparison between the two types of grammars is also given. The properties of the languages derived by each are also discussed. Existing computer systems which model chemical processes are also discussed. Finally a discussion is given of a software system which was developed as part of this study.

Bibliography: pages 219-230. / Software engineers have identified many problem areas regarding the development of software. There is a need for improving system and program quality at design level, ensuring that design costs remain within the budget, and increasing the productivity of designers. Structured Software Development Environment (SSDE) provides the system designer with an interactive menu-driven environment, and a framework within which he can conveniently express and manipulate his proposed solution. This representation is in terms of both a conceptual model and a detailed software logic definition. Thus SSDE provides tools for both high-level (or logical) and low-level (or physical) design. It allows a user to follow his own preferred methodology rather than restricting him to one specific strategy. SSDE builds and maintains databases that record all design decisions. It provides the system designer with a mechanism whereby systems can easily be modified and new systems can evolve from similar existing systems. There are several auxiliary facilities as productivity aids. SSDE generates PASCAL code for low-level design constructs, ·full documentation of both the high- and low-level designs for inclusion in the project file, as well as a skeleton manual. The system was evaluated by a number of independent users. This exercise clearly demonstrated its success as an aid in expressing, understanding, manipulating and solving software development problems.

One of two project reports: The other part is designated PART B: McMASTER (on-campus) PROJECT. / <p> A guide to programming the Nova computer is presented in this manual. Programming fundamentals, structured programming, testing and debugging and interrupt programming technique are also included. </p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (MEngr)

Since the inception of software engineering, the major goal has been to control the development and maintenance of reliable software. To this end, many different design methodologies have been presented as a means to improve software quality through semantic clarity and syntactic accuracy during the specification and design phases of the software life cycle. On the other end of the life cycle, software quality metrics have been proposed to supply quantitative measures of the resultant software. This study is an attempt to unify the two concepts by providing a means to determine the quality of a design before its implementation. / Master of Science

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

This paper reviews numerous theoretical results on control structures and demonstrates their practical examples. This study deals with the design of run-time support routines by using top-down structured programming technique. A number of examples are given as illustration of this method. In conclusion, structured programming has proved to be an important methodology for systematic program design and development.

As more and more of information systems develop into large scale web applications, the complexity of multiple possible stakeholders and users multiplies. Web engineering methodologies although developing, are still primarily addressing the technical and functional issues in these large systems. The thesis addresses the web information system development from a social-psychological viewpoint to find ways to better match the user with system development. This thesis proposes a methodology to apply adoption theory into web application development. The hypothesis being that this is another way to enhance the utilisation of the system by the users. A thorough review of both adoption theory and adoption models showed that existing models are more descriptive of the process than applicational. From a wide range of adoption models, the thesis synthesised a composite adoption model, based on an accepted descriptive framework by Rogers. This was done by mapping to this foundation framework relevant criteria and procedures from significant adoption models. Along with this composite adoption model was also developed a development procedure that mapped the adoption model to common activities found in all the web and software engineering processes, giving a formal mechanism to apply the adoption theory to a wide range of web development methodologies. In doing so the composite model introduces a new dimension into the domain analysis by identifying a new class of stakeholders, namely “adoption change agents”, and also broadens the requirements process. The adoption model and development process was then applied to the development of a substantive web information system called Platform Web. Platform Web over a three year period evolved to provide many integrated online functions, including a fully developed teaching package only available on one member, to a university wide online tutorial system that integrated to the student administrative systems, the timetabling and teaching module. As the university at that time consisted of three basically independent network members, each promoting the use of web based teaching, it was possible to run a series of statistical tests across the three members on the uptake of their respective web application teaching modules. The significant statistical results endorsing the thesis hypothesis that “Adoption modelling will enhance the effective use of web applications and the resulting web information systems if applied at the web application design level and also in the formulation of system implementation strategies, management models and system evolution methodologies.” / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis presents the concepts of structured programming and illustrates how they can be used to develop efficient and reliable programs and aid in language selection. Topics are presented and used to compare several languages with each other rather than with some abstract ideal. Structured design is a set of concepts that aids the decomposition of a problem using basic block structures into manageable subproblems. Decomposition is a process whereby the large problem is decomposed into components that can be easily understood. This process is continued until the smallest component can be represented by a unit of code performing a single action. By means of the four basic building blocks the atom, concatenation, selection, and repetition one can produce a correct well structured program. In addition, the top-down approach and/or the bottom up approach can assist in producing a structured program that is easy to design, code, debug, modify, and maintain. These approaches minimize the number of bugs and the time spent in the debugging process. Various testing techniques supporting the structured programming process are presented to aid in determining a program's correctness. The languages must support structured programming. Microsoft FORTRAN, Microsoft QuickBASIC, Turbo Pascal, and Microsoft C are analyzed and compared on the basis of syntactic style, semantic structure, data types and manipulation, application facilities, and application requirements. Example programs are presented to reinforce these concepts. Frame programs are developed in these languages and are used to assist in the language evaluation. / Master of Science