ROAD/EE: a prototyping environment for object-oriented specifications

Requirements analysis includes activities that acquire and compile users' needs into a baseline document (a software requirements specification), and validate the document. This document is generally used as the road map for later phases during software development. It is widely accepted that prototyping is a useful approach for extracting users' needs, and that formal and semi-formal specification languages are valid approaches for creating rigid requirements specifications. However, both have some short-comings for requirement analysis. The authors present an approach that achieves a balanced mix of prototyping and formal specification languages to enhance requirements analysis. In addition, they introduce a supporting environment, called ROAD/EE, that facilitates prototyping based on object-oriented specifications. The basic idea behind ROAD/EE is that of executing object-oriented specifications directly and animating its result with shape and movement of icons. ROAD/EE also helps users interact with the prototype so that users can easily find errors in the specification.