Software Factories

Tutorial T9

By: Steve Cook, Microsoft Corporation

Abstract

This half-day tutorial presents the Software Factory pattern for building languages, patterns, frameworks and tools for specific domains, such as user interface construction or database design. We discuss the forces acting towards increasing industrialization of software development through delivery of knowledge and automation in context. We explore innovations, such as software product lines and model driven development, which reduce the cost of implementing the pattern, making it cost effective for narrower and more specialized domains, such as B2C application development and business process automation. We introduce the concept of the software schema, a network of viewpoints describing artifacts comprising the members of a family of software products. Examples and demonstrations are used throughout to illustrate the concepts.

Duration: Half day

Level and Required experience

Intermediate.
Participants should be competent practitioners familiar with current software development methods, practices and technologies.

Speaker's profile

Steve Cook is a Software Architect in the Enterprise Frameworks and Tools group at Microsoft. Previously he was a Distinguished Engineer at IBM, whom he represented in the UML 2.0 specification process at the OMG. He has worked in the IT industry for almost 30 years, as architect, programmer, author, consultant and teacher. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Software and Systems Modeling Journal, a Fellow of the British Computer Society, and has Masters degrees in Physics from Cambridge and Computer Science from London, and an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from De Montford University.

Steve gave a similar tutorial at MODELS 2005 (about 15 participants). He co-gave tutorials with Jack Greenfield on this topic at OOPSLA 2005 (20) and UML/Design World 2005 (25), and with Alan Wills at JAOO 2005 (25). He frequently gives talks on this and related subjects.