The evolution support environment system

The evolution support environment (ESE) system, which provides a framework for capturing and making available semantic information about software components of an evolving software system, is described. The goal in the design of the ESE system was to provide integrated support for management of software architecture configuration, life-cycle configuration, and version control. Software architecture configuration management allows tracking of interconnections among software components that make up a system. Life-cycle management allows traceability among specifications, design, code, and test cases during software development. Adding version control allows specific versions of software objects and their associated objects, such as specifications and test cases, to be retrieved. The authors' experience with the use of the system is discussed