Abstract
Currently, several languages to represent and manipulate parts of IS engineering methods, techniques and tools are being used. These so-called Method Engineering languages can be classified into four categories: product-oriented, object-oriented, process-and decision-oriented, and hybrid. In this paper representatives of each of these categories are being reviewed. Meta-models of the languages are given, and each description is illustrated by an example specification. Focus of comparison is expressive power. The Method Engineering languages are compared on the basis of a number of requirements, which are deduced from the notions used in the Method Engineering domain.
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Benali, K., Boudjlida, N., Charoy, F., Derniame, J.-C., Godart, C., Griffiths, Ph., Gruhn, V., Jamart, Ph., Oldfield, D. and Oquendo, F. (1989) Presentation of the ALF project. Proceedings of the International Conference on System Development Environments and Factories, Berlin.
Brinkkemper, S. (1991) Formalisation of Information Systems Modelling, Dissertation University of Nijmegen, Thesis Publishers, Amsterdam.
Duke, R., King, P., Rose, R. and Smith, G. (1991) The Object-Z Specification Language, Technical Report 91–1, Software Verification Centre, University of Queensland.
Emmerich, W., Junkermann, G. and Schäfer, W. (1991) MERLIN: knowledge based process modelling. First European Workshop on Software Process Modelling, Milan.
Harmsen, F., Brinkkemper S. and Oei H. (1994) Situational Method Engineering for Information System Projects. Proceedings of the IFIP WG8.1 Working Conference CRIS’94 (Eds. T.W. 011e and A.A. Verrijn-Stuart), North-Holland Publishers, Amsterdam, pp. 169–194.
Harmsen, F., and Brinkkemper, S. (1995a) Description and Manipulation of Method Fragments for Situational Method Assembly. Proceedings of the Workshop on Management of Software Projects, Pergamon Press, London.
Harmsen, F. and Brinkkemper S. (1995b) Design and Implementation of a Method Base Management System for a Situational CASE Environment. Proceedings of the 2nd Asian-Pacific Software Engineering Conference (APSEC’95), IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA, pp. 430–438.
Heym, M. and Osterle, H. (1992) A reference model of information systems development. The Impact of Computer Supported Technologies on Information Systems Development (Eds. K.E. Kendall, K. Lyytinen and J. I. DeGross), Amsterdam, North-Holland, pp. 215–240.
Hofstede, A.H.M. ter (1993), Information modelling in data intensive domains, dissertation University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Hong, S., van den Goor, G., and Brinkkemper, S. (1993), A Comparison of Object-Oriented Analysis and Design Methodologies. Proceedings of the 26th Hawaiian Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-26), IEEE Computer Science Press.
Iivari, J. (1994) Object-oriented information systems analysis: A comparison of six object-oriented analysis methods. Proceedings of the IFIP WG8.1 Working Conference CRIS’94 (Eds. T.W. 011e and A.A. Verrijn-Stuart), North-Holland Publishers, Amsterdam, pp. 85110.
Katayama, T. (1989) A hierarchical and functional software process description and its enaction. Proceedings of the 11th Int. Conf on Software Engineering. pp.-343–352.
Kelly S., Lyytinen, K. and Rossi, M. (1996) MetaEdit+ A Fully Configurable Multi-User and multi-Tool CASE and CAME Environment. Proceedings of the CAiSE’96 conference, 2024 May, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
Koskinen, M. (1996) Designing Multiple Process Modelling Languages for Flexible, Enactable Process Models in a MetaCASE Environment, Proceedings of the 7th European Workshop on Next Generation CASE Tools (NGCT’96), Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
Kumar, K. and Welke, R.J. (1992) Methodology Engineering: A proposal for Situation-specific Methodology Engineering. Challenges and Strategies for Research in Systems Development (Eds. W.W. Cotterman and J.A Senn ), John Wiley and Sons Ltd., pp. 257–269.
Martin, J. (1990) Information Engineering, Book II - Planning and Analysis, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs.
Marttiin, P., Rossi, M., Tahvanainen, V.-P. and Lyytinen, K. (1993) A Comparative Review of CASE Shells: a preliminary framework and research outcomes. Information and Management, 25, pp. 11–31.
Mylopoulos, J., Borgida, A., Jarke, M., Koubarakis, M. (1990) Telos: Representing Knowledge About Information Systems. ACM Transactions on Information Systems, 8, 4, pp. 325–362.
Oei, J.L.H. and E.D. Falkenberg (1994) Harmonisation of Information System Modelling and Specification Techniques. Proceedings of the IFIP WG8.1 Working Conference CRIS’94 (Eds. T.W. Olle and A.A. Verrijn-Stuart), North-Holland Publishers, Amsterdam, pp. 151168.
Olle, T.W., Sol, H.G. and Tully, C.J. (Eds.) (1983) Information Systems Design Methodologies: A Feature Analysis. Elsevier Science Publishers, North-Holland, Amsterdam.
Olle, T.W., Hagelstein, J., MacDonald, I.G., Rolland, C., Sol, H.G., Van Assche, F.J.M. and Verrijn-Stuart, A.A (1991) Information Systems Methodologies: A framework for understanding. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Wokingham, England.
Saeki, M., Kaneko, T., and Sakamoto, M. (1991) A Method for Software Process Modeling and Description using LOTOS. Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on the Software Process (Ed. M. Dowson), IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA, pp. 90–104.
Saeki, M., and Wen-yin, K. (1994) Specifying Software Specification and Design Methods. Advanced Information Systems Engineering (Eds. G. Wijers, S. Brinkkemper and T. Wasserman), LNCS#811, Springer-Verlag, pp. 353–366.
Smolander, K. (1992) OPRR–A Model for Methodology Modeling. Next Generation of CASE Tools (Eds. K. Lyytinen and V.-P. Tahvanainen), Studies in Computer and Communication Systems, IOS press, pp. 224–239.
Slooten, K. van, and Brinkkemper S. (1993) A Method Engineering Approach to Information Systems Development. Proceedings of the IFIP WG8.1 Conference on Information Systems Development Process (Eds. N. Prakash, C. Rolland and P. Pernici ), Como, pp. 167–186.
Song, X., and Osterweil, L.J. (1992), Towards objective, systematic design-method comparison. IEEE Software, 34, 5, May, pp. 43–53.
Sorenson, P.G., Tremblay, J-P. and McAllister, A.J. (1988) The Metaview system for many specification environments. IEEE Software, 30, 3, March, pp. 30–38.
Sowa, J.F., and Zachman, J.A. (1992) Extending and formalizing the framework for information systems architecture. IBM Systems Journal, 31, 3, pp. 590–616.
Venable, J. (1993) CoCoA: A Conceptual Data Modelling Approach for Complex Problem Domains. Ph.D. dissertation, State University of New York, Binghampton.
Verhoef, T.F. and Ter Hofstede, A.H.M. (1995) Feasibility of Flexible Information Modelling Support. Advanced Information Systems Engineering (Eds. J. Iivari, K. Lyytinen and M. Rossi), LNCS #932, Springer-Verlag, pp. 168–185.
Wijers, G. and Dort, H. van (1990) Experiences with the use of CASE tools in the Netherlands. Advanced Information Systems Engineering (Eds. B. Steinholz, A. Salvberg and L. Bergman), LNCS#436, Springer-Verlag, pp. 5–20.
Wijers, G. (1991) Modelling Support in Information Systems Development. Ph.D. dissertation, Thesis publishers, Amsterdam.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Harmsen, F., Saeki, M. (1996). Comparison of four Method Engineering languages. In: Brinkkemper, S., Lyytinen, K., Welke, R.J. (eds) Method Engineering. ME 1996. IFIP — The International Federation for Information Processing. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35080-6_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35080-6_14
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-5824-5
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-35080-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive