A Knowledge-Based Software Information System

Abstract

The difficulty of maintaining very large software systems is becoming more widely acknowledged. One of the primary problems is the need to access information about a complex and evolving system. We are exploring the contribution to be made by applying explicit knowledge representation and reasoning to the management of information about large systems. LaSSIE is a prototype tool (based on the ARGON system) that uses a frame-based description language and classification inferences to facilitate a programmer's discovery of the structure of a complex system. It also supports the retrieval of software for possible re-use in a new development task. Among LaSSIE's features are an integrated natural language front-end (TELI) that allows users to express requests in an informal and compact fashion. Although not without some limitations, LaSSIE represents significant progress over existing software retrieval methods and strictly bottom-up cross-referencing facilities.