A CASE primer for computer science educators

Abstract

The continuing demand for the development of new software and maintenance of existing software has made productivity an important issue in the software industry. In the past, increases in productivity have come from the introduction of software engineering techniques. Today, software engineers are looking to CASE (computer-aided software engineering) tools as a possible source of further improvements in productivity. This paper provides an overview of current CASE tools, with a focus on three types of tools: framing environments, programming environments and general environments. Two specific CASE systems are discussed in some detail. CASE systems in the context of software engineering education are also discussed.