Application Generators And Fourth Generation Languages

It is increasingly acknowledged that the traditional methods of producing software systems are far from satisfactory: software projects are likely to run over budgets and beyond deadlines, and to produce disappointing results. Application generators, a subset of the emerging group of fourth-generation languages, are being made available to solve some of the problems of software development. This book explores the nature and role of application generators in the context of today's DP environments and user needs and experiences.

"Offers readers a solid foundation in the fundamentals of what 4GLs are, how they're used, and what factors contribute to using them successfully."--Back cover

Providing in-depth coverage, this book covers the fundamentals of computation and programming in C language. Essential concepts including operators and expressions, input and output statements, loop statements, arrays, pointers, functions, strings and preprocessors are described in a lucid manner. A unique approach - 'Learn by quiz' - features questions based on confidence-based learning methodology. It helps the reader to identify the right answer with adequate explanation and reasoning as to why the other options are incorrect. Computer programs and review questions are interspersed throughout the text. The book is appropriate for undergraduate students of engineering, computer science and information technology. It can be used for self-study and assists in the understanding of theoretical concepts and their applications.

If you have picked up this book and are browsing the Preface, you may well be asking yourself"What makes this book different from the large number I can find on amazon. com?". Well, the answer is a blend of the academic and the practical, and views of the subject you won't get from anybody else: how psychology and linguistics influence the field of requirements engineering (RE). The title might seem to be a bit of a conundrum; after all, surely requirements come from people so all requirements should be user-centred. Sadly, that is not always so; many system disasters have been caused simply because requirements engineering was not user-centred or, worse still, was not practised at all. So this book is about putting the people back into com puting, although not simply from the HCI (human-computer interaction) sense; instead, the focus is on how to understand what people want and then build appropriate computer systems.

This is the most authoritative archive of Barry Boehm's contributions to software engineering. Featuring 42 reprinted articles, along with an introduction and chapter summaries to provide context, it serves as a "how-to" reference manual for software engineering best practices. It provides convenient access to Boehm's landmark work on product development and management processes. The book concludes with an insightful look to the future by Dr. Boehm.