Wayne D. Dominick

Object-oriented graphical information systems: Research plan and evaluation metrics

Abstract The object-oriented design strategy, as both a problem decomposition and a system-implementation methodology, holds significant potential benefits for software design and implementation in scientific computing environments. Additionally, certain characteristics of object-oriented systems are particularly suited to supporting graphics-application development. This paper presents the initial direction and organization of research and development activities in the area of object-oriented graphical information systems at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. These activities, structured as a four-phase research plan, are intended to provide significant and extensible results in the evaluation of the impact of object-oriented methodologies on graphical-information system design and implementation. The long-term goals of this research include the formulation of complexity models for object-oriented development of software and the formulation and validation of software-development metrics appropriate to object-oriented systems.

A microcomputer-based interactive presentation development system

Abstract Under the primary sponsorship of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the University of Southwestern Louisiana (USL) NASA PC R&D project is conducting a variety of research activities addressing microcomputer-based support for instructional activities. The Interactive Presentation Development System (IPDS), one product of this research, is intended to minimize the overhead involved in the preparation and presentation of instructional material while significantly increasing instructor control over the dynamics of such presentations. This paper presents a brief overview of the USL NASA PC R&D project, a detailed explanation of IPDS capabilities, and an analysis of IPDSs effect on the instructional presentation process.