About Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tools and their limitations

With progressive developments in Information Technology (IT), there has been a significant expansion in the purview of software development support tools. From tools purely for the purpose of development of software like debuggers, code analyzers, editors et al, the focus has gradually shifted to CASE tools, acronym for Computer Aided Software Engineering tools, with more sturdy and capable computers in wide use.

Per se, the process of custom software programming typically involves analysis, design, documentation and eventual code generation in a particular language followed by maintenance of the software viz. version updating and so on. Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tools automate the methods for these processes and hence


* Quicken the process of development of software

* Ease the maintenance of any software

* Apply an engineering approach to the entire software development and maintenance process.



But naturally, CASE tools make up the integral part of today’s custom software development services.

In tandem with the various stages of development of software, there are various CASE tools available for use, which are implemented both collectively and individually during custom software programming, depending upon the discretion of the various custom software development services. The various CASE tools typically used by custom software development services include,



* Data Modeling tools

* Configuration Management tools

* Source code generation tools

* Model transformation tools

* Refactoring tools

* Unified Modeling Language



Beyond doubt, CASE tools are generally very helpful in easing the entire process of software development and integration. However, there are some prevalent issues as well that keep the software development and user communities vigilant, namely,

Lack of standardisation across different CASE tools developer companies may hamper smooth communication/ integration between different CASE tools.

Impractical expectations out of CASE technology are another major handicap as developers tend to confuse its use for substantially cheaper development of software , which is not true. Also, developers cannot always expect quickened implementations of the developed software, especially when implementing CASE technology into a traditional software development environment.

Unreliable access control to CASE repositories typically makes the custom software programming vulnerable to security breaches or damages to documentation, code and system design.