Visual Software Agents for Automated Code Engineering
Summary:
FlowLynx, Inc. (Huntsville, AL ) undertook BMDO SBIR work to develop visual, software agents for automated code engineering that would maximize labor efficiency. The company has bundled these agents into a software program, called Visual FlowCoderTM, which it sells commercially. Visual FlowCoder has been used by a number of high-profile firms, including Martin Marietta and Teledyne-Brown.
Technology Description:
FlowLynx, Inc. (formerly Ublige Software and Robotics Corporation; Huntsville AL) has developed software agents that can automate flowcharting of software programs. An agent is a small program dedicated to executing some specific task.
Agent-related components developed under BMDO SBIR work include flow and analysis tools, programming language translation tools, Web flowcharting tools, a page viewer client, a Web server-based code flowcharting engine, extensible markup language (XML) mapping tools, and client-server linkage to Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) application program interfaces and Sun Microsystem’s Remote Method Invocation (RMI) protocol.
These agents were incorporated into FlowLynx’s Visual FlowCoderTM software, a program that can graphically map the flow of software code across large systems. Procedures, functions, and other routines are flowcharted, or “flowcoded,” which is to say they are placed in a visual format based on the software's algorithmic flow. This allows engineers and programmers to visually eyeball the flow of their programs, making code development, maintenance, bug-fixing, integration, documentation or re-engineering projects easier. A specialized language, called the flowcode, encapsulates other process languages (Ada, C, C++, Cobol, Java) allowing for a new layer of abstraction and visualization.
This system is that it is the first to integrate many different parts for software analysis into one package. Engineering analysis on a system-wide scale is also more manageable. FlowLynx estimates that use of this software can cut the time of executing software engineering projects by 50 percent or more. Also, this code generates visual documentation of the code for documentation purposes.
MDA Origins:
FlowLynx undertook BMDO SBIR work to develop visually-based software agents for automated code engineering that will maximize labor efficiency. BMDO was interested in Y2K-bug repair tools, as well as tools for code modernization and migration.
Spinoff Applications:
Automated visual analysis tools for large software systems can be used in commercial and military computer systems to reuse and heighten the quality of existing
software. Such applications might be of particular interest to companies with critical systems (hospitals, airline terminals) where the maintenance of high-quality software is essential.
Among the specific information technology management these tools can assist in include:
•enhanced source engineering and reuse
•enhanced code reviews
•generating of flow-based source documentation
•language porting
•reverse engineering
•legacy maintenance and modernization
•software porting
•requirements analysis and capture support
•source code knowledge mining and warehousing
•testing
•web site generation
•deploying of software implementation documents
Commercialization:
As part of the BMDO SBIR Phase II work, the company signed a memoranda of agreement with 3SL, a U.K.-based systems engineering firm, to co-develop a flowcode-based technology that helps link systems and software engineering tools, processes, and domains. The company sells Visual FlowCoder commercially and also tailors the software for individual clients. FlowCoder is available for Windows 95, 98, and 2000, as well as a Unix/Linux version.
Such tools could also allow buyers of large software systems to easily check that the software delivered to them meets the requirements of the software they contracted to be written. There have been a number of well-publicized cases where hundred-million-dollar software projects are botched because such a capability didn't exist.
The positive psychological impact that the software has for programmers would be notable, particulary when used for code peer reviews (or the sharing of code among software programmers and software engineers to find bugs). Code peer reviews are not liked by software developers and unappreciated by software development managers. With such tools, they can be made less burdensome and more productive. Keeping track of how code progresses throughout an execution cycle can be done far more easily with visual tools than by reading it line by line.
As of mid-2000, the company has sold over 50K worth of flowcoded-related services. The company has approximately 2500 evaluators and 50 licenced users. Visual FlowCoder has been used by a number of high-profile firms. Teledyne-Brown is using the technology to automate software documentation and replace a paper-based development folder with a web-based system. The Biomedical Research Centre uses it for Y2K post-fix analysis, as well as for debugging and process extraction for the outdated COBOL language. Other clients include:
•U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command
•Martin Marietta
•Air Force Research Lab
•Kasle Steel
•COLSA Corporation
•Computer Sciences Corporation
•Business Records Corporation
FlowLynx is also talking to NASA-Marshall about a pilot project that will use flowcoding to highlight violations of coding rules in their embedded software systems. NASA-Marshall has also asked FlowLynx to submit an SBIR proposal to build a system that can take any source code and turn that into a set of common requirements definition.
The company is now ramping up a marketing effort that is expected to bring in significantly more sales. Hurdles remain in convincing software developers that code, in whatever programming language, can indeed be inspected visually. Target markets are large software analysis consultants and software development and engineering firms. Secondary markets include software review and development tool firms. Another more long-term interest is in the educational market.
Company Profile:
Based in Hunstville, AL., FlowLynx specializes in state-of-the-art re-engineering and management tools for the software development life cycle. The company was incorporated as Ublige Software and Robotics in 1992. Renamed FlowLynx in late 1998, the company employs the functional equivalent of three full-time people. The company also draws
help from strategic partners when larger jobs are contracted.
Contact Information:
Luis R. Lopez (principal investigator)
FlowLynx, Inc.
PO Box 18034
Huntsville AL 35804-8034
Tel:256-704-7850
Cell:256-656-9652
Fax:256-534-6999
email: luis@flowlynx.com
web: http://www.flowlynx.com
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