Object-Oriented Software Engineering using AI techniques

An AI tool for supporting an Object Oriented (OO) Software Engineering method is described. The OO paradigm requires the identification of an “object model” from a natural language software specification. The object-model derived from such an exercise is often unsuitable for direct implementation as relationships between objects also affect the model. The supported method (MOOSE) classifies relationships into 4 categories. The Laws of Demeter are also applied to reduce dependency between objects thus simplifying maintenance work. The use of a deterministic parser to produce grammatical structures and an expert system to analyse them and produce an object model is proposed. These AI elements are to be embedded within a CASE environment, interacting with the user via the CASE interface.