Software Documentation

About
Imagix


At
Imagix

Corporation, we improve the productivity of software
developers through the tools we develop, market and support.

Imagix

products are used for reverse
-
engineering, quality analysis and
documentation of software in applications ranging from deep space
communication and air traffic control systems, to billing and management
information systems, to safety critical automotive systems,
communication devices and medical instrumentation.

Commercial customers include such leading global companies as General
Dynamics, Hewlett
-
Packard, Hitachi, Intel, Nissan, and Siemens. Our
tools are also used by numerous U.S. governmental agencies, such as the
FAA, JPL, NASA and Sandia National Lab.

Source
Code Analysis

Imagix

4D helps software developers comprehend
complex or legacy C, C++ and Java source code. By using
Imagix

4D to reverse engineer and analyze your code,
you're able to speed your development, enhancement,
reuse, and testing. Eliminate bugs due to faulty
understanding. Get new hires on board faster. Spend time
engineering, not reading through code.

A comprehensive source code analysis tool,
Imagix

4D
enables you to rapidly check or systematically study your
software on any level
--

from its high level architecture to
the details of its build, class and function dependencies.
You can visually explore a wide range of aspects about
your software
-

control structures, data usage, and
inheritance. All based on
Imagix

4D's precise static
analysis of your source code.

Automated Document Generation

Working in software development, software maintenance
or quality assurance, one of your least desirable and least
rewarding tasks is creating documentation. Whether it's for
code you're creating, a change you're contemplating, or a
problem that you're trying to resolve, the actual task of
documentation is often dull and unimaginative. And under
tight schedules, there seem to be better uses of your time.

Yet detailed, accurate, up
-
to
-
date documentation is of
enormous value. It helps insure that changes made to the
source code don't create unforeseen problems. It speeds
and focuses peer

code review efforts. It lowers the
likelihood of misunderstandings among developers and
quality assurance teams. It alleviates the need to spend time
hand
-
holding new engineers as they get up to speed.

Delta Analysis

While developing software, your focus is usually on the current, latest
version of your code. Much of
Imagix

4D's functionality supports
precisely this
-

understanding, analyzing, checking and documenting
that single latest variant.


But software doesn't instantly appear, and software
development is a process. Versions evolve from
predecessors. Branches expand the software to address new
environments and different applications. Customizations
lead to an excess of software snapshots.

There are times when analyzing the differences
between these versions of the code becomes
important. The knowledge can be essential to
insure that latest changes conform with design
intentions. Confirm functionality. Identify missing
updates. Support code reviews. Focus test
activities.

Applying
Imagix

4D

When you apply
Imagix

4D, a wide range of tasks in understanding, analyzing
and documenting your complex or legacy software become easier, and you
become more productive. The tool visually presents information about the key
aspects of your source code, and enables you to quickly focus those views to
answer the particular questions you're facing. Complementing the interactive
use of the reverse engineering tool, you're also able to automatically generate
documents, speeding tasks ranging from conducting code reviews to reporting
design and quality issues to delivering as
-
built documentation.

Software Evolution and Maintenance

When software systems are embedded in real world domains, their active and on
-
going use presents a number of challenges, enumerated here as Lehman's
Eight
Laws of Software Evolution
.


1

Continuing
Change

Systems must be continually adapted else they become
progressively less satisfactory in use

2

Increasing
Complexity

As a system is evolved its complexity increases unless work is
done to maintain or reduce it

3

Self Regulation

Global system evolution processes are self
-
regulating

4

Conservation of
Organisational

Stability

Unless feedback mechanisms are appropriately adjusted, average
effective global activity rate in an evolving system tends to remain
constant over product lifetime

5

Conservation of
Familiarity

In general, the incremental growth and long term growth rate of
systems tend to decline

6

Continuing
Growth

The functional capability of systems must be continually increased
to maintain user satisfaction over the system lifetime

7

Declining Quality

Unless rigorously adapted to take into account changes in the
operational environment, the quality of systems will appear to be
declining

8

Feedback System

Evolution processes are multi
-
level, multi
-
loop, multi
-
agent
feedback systems

Technical
and Customer Support

Worldwide:




Imagix

Corporation

6025 White Oak Lane

San Luis Obispo, CA, USA 93401

Tel
: +1 805 781 6002

Fax: +1 805 781 6003

Email: sales@imagix.com

Email: support@imagix.com

Japan:




Toyo
Corporation

1
-
6,
Yaesu

1
-
chome, Chuo
-
ku

Tokyo 103
-
8284, Japan

Tel
: +81 (0)3 3279 0771

Fax: +81 (0)3 5205 2030

Email: ss_sales@toyo.co.jp

For more info Visit us


http://
www.imagix.com