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7.10. Integration of System Engineering Tools
Author(s) -
Rader Jock
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.1998.tb00123.x
Subject(s) - system integration , computer science , middleware (distributed applications) , software engineering , set (abstract data type) , systems engineering , integration platform , engineering , programming language , database
Integration of tools is a major issue in the provision of a useable set of tools to support system engineering. Integration can be approached from different perspectives including: infrastructures (middleware), and the integration characteristics of individual tools. This paper concentrates on integration mechanisms which a given tool might enjoy. A major portion of the paper looks at application programming interfaces (APIs) which provide the most complete range of integration possibilities: and the various dimensions of APIs are analyzed. Also discussed are internal programming languages, filters, modification of internal tool files and shared repositories. Tool enhancement techniques are mentioned in places because they are so intertwined with integration. In order to make intelligent choices of tools to support systems engineering for a project or organization, it is necessary to understand a wide range of tool integration properties in detail.