Support of program understanding for software maintenance (2)

In determining the framework, a programmer is attempting to determine the relationships that exist within the program: where the variables are defined and where these definitions are used.; what the interface 9of the code is to other pieces; which data items are imported and which are exported; where a function is used; what data items are defined globally; what data items are visible to some particular function or functions; what are the interfaces of the functions; what is the scope of the definition of a particular piece of data; which internal procedures or functions are used to assign different value to the data items; which procedures or functions reference the value; where is a file referenced; where an entity in a database is updated. By acquiring this information, the maintainer can begin to define the concepts that are used within the programming system and determine how the concepts have been interwoven to structure the programming system.

Program elements (e.g., functions, subprograms and procedures) for a long time, were written using a linear language paradigm and then stored in files. It is in these days, that the programming is being done in multi-level language paradigm and the available documentation support is acceptable. Because of that, the relationships among those files are understood only by analyzing the statements within the program elements. These relationships that are defined within the program are multidimensional. For example, a procedure A might be called by procedure B, A might also call procedure C and define data used by procedure D, and then procedure A might update the data used by procedure E. Thus procedure A is related in various ways to four additional procedures. The programmer in the task of understanding, must attempt to superimpose these multidimensional relationships on the linear text for the program. A tool that allows the programmer to easily view the multidimensional relationships that exist within the program would make easier the task of understanding.

Go To Page: 1

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic