ISBN : 978-81-963532-2-3 (E-Book) COMPUTERAIDEDSOFTWAREENGINEERING CASEtool andits scope A CASE (Computer Aided Software Engineering) tool is a generic term used to denote any formof automated support for software engineering. In a more restrictive sense, a CASE tool meansany toolused toautomatesomeactivity associatedwithsoftware development.Many CASEtools are available. Some of these CASE tools assist in phase related tasks such as specification,structured analysis, design, coding, testing, etc.; and others to non-phase activities such as projectmanagementandconfiguration management. ReasonsforusingCASE tools Theprimaryreasons forusingaCASE tool are: • Toincreaseproductivity • Tohelpproducebetter qualitysoftwareatlower cost CASEenvironment AlthoughindividualCASEtoolsareuseful,thetruepowerofatoolsetcanberealizedonlywhen these set of tools are integrated into a common framework or environment. CASE tools arecharacterized by the stage or stages of software development life cycle on which they focus.Since different tools covering different stages share common information, it is required that theyintegrate through somecentralrepository tohave a consistentview of informationassociatedwith the software development artifacts. This central repository is usually a data dictionarycontainingthe definition ofall compositeand elementary data items. Through the central repository all the CASE tools in a CASE environment sharecommon information among themselves. Thus a CASE environment facilities the automation ofthe step-by-step methodologies for software development. A schematic representation of a CASEenvironmentis shown in fig. 39.1. 200 Software Engineering Keerthana P, Manasa KN, Ganga D Bengal
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