Automating the Transformational Development of Software

This paper reports on efforts to extend the transformational implementation (TI) model of software development 1. In particular, we describe a system that uses AI techniques to automate major portions of a transformational implementation. The work has focused on the formalization of the goals, strategies, selection rationale, and finally the transformations used by expert human developers. A system has been constructed that includes representations for each of these problem-solving components, as well as machinery for handling human-system interaction and problem-solving control. We will present the system and illustrate automation issues through two annotated examples.