dtj v01-06 feb1988

This Digital Technical Journal, Number 6 (February 1988) focuses on Software Productivity Tools and innovative development practices at Digital Equipment Corporation. It presents a collection of papers that discuss various software tools and methodologies designed to enhance the quality, reliability, and efficiency of software development.

Key themes and topics covered include:

1. Integrated Software Development Environment (VAX/VMS): An overview of Digital's comprehensive VAX/VMS environment, emphasizing how tools for documentation, project management, code management, editing, debugging, analysis, and testing are tightly integrated to support all stages of the software life cycle.
2. Software Productivity Measurements: A study analyzing metrics like engineering productivity, defect rate, and cost to build, demonstrating improved productivity and product quality due to increased code reuse and the adoption of new tools.
3. Language-Sensitive Editor (LSE): A detailed look at LSE, an advanced text editor designed to improve programmer productivity with language-sensitive features, templates, online help, and seamless integration with compilers and static analysis tools.
4. VAX SCAN: Introduction to a rule-based text processing software that simplifies the building of software by providing powerful pattern-matching capabilities, significantly reducing program development time.
5. Ada Language and VAX Ada Compiler Features: Discussion of Ada's inherent productivity features (e.g., packages, tasks, strong typing, exception handling, portability) and additional enhancements provided by Digital's VAX Ada compiler (e.g., automatic inlining, program library management).
6. VAX GKS and VAX PHIGS Products: How these high-level, device-independent graphics standards simplify graphics programming, emphasizing their common architecture for performance, code reuse, and extensibility in various environments.
7. VAX RALLY System: A relational fourth-generation language (4GL) designed for interactive database application development, balancing ease of use with flexibility through its object-based definition system and run-time environment.
8. VTX and VALU: Software productivity tools for distributed applications development, enabling the creation and integration of information services across heterogeneous network environments with minimal knowledge of the underlying network.
9. Pragmatics in VAX Ada Development: Practical tools and techniques used in developing the VAX Ada compiler, such as automation, instrumentation, self-checking, and self-describing data structures, which improved productivity and compiler performance.
10. Graphical Program Generator: The development of a VAX COBOL GENERATOR, a graphical interface tool for generating COBOL applications, showcasing the benefits of early prototyping, technology reuse, and various testing strategies.
11. Project Management of VAX DEC/Test Manager Software: Insights into managing a complex software project using an iterative development approach and leveraging VMS productivity tools (including VAX NOTES for communication) to achieve rapid, high-quality delivery.
12. Development of VAX NOTES System: A retrospective on the design and development of Digital's computer conferencing system, highlighting its innovative multitasking server, user interface, and extensible callable interface.
13. Software Usability Engineering: A structured, user-centered approach to software design involving on-site observations, usability specification development, and evolutionary delivery to ensure systems meet user needs and are easy to use.

The journal collectively demonstrates Digital's commitment to advancing software development through a combination of sophisticated tools and refined engineering practices, fostering a productive and disciplined environment.