Experience with an approach to comparing software design methodologies

Introduces a systematic and defined process called “comparison of design methodologies” (CDM) for objectively comparing software design methodologies (SDMs). We believe that using CDM will lead to detailed, traceable, and objective comparisons. CDM uses process modeling techniques to model SDMs, classify their components, and analyze their procedural aspects. Modeling the SDMs entails decomposing their methods into components and analyzing the structure and functioning of the components. The classification of the components illustrates which components address similar design issues and/or have similar structures. Similar components then may be further modeled to aid in more precisely understanding their similarities and differences. The models of the SDMs are also used as the bases for conjectures and analyses about the differences between the SDMs. This paper describes three experiments that we carried out in evaluating CDM. The first uses CDM to compare Jackson System Development (JSD) and Booch's (1986) object-oriented design. The second uses CDM to compare two other pairs of SDMs. The last one compares some of our comparisons with other comparisons done in the past using different approaches. The results of these experiments demonstrate that process modeling is valuable as a powerful tool in analysis of software development approaches