The software knowledge base

We describe a system for maintaining useful information about a software project. The “software knowledge base” keeps track of software components and their properties; these properties are described through binary relations and the constraints that these relations must satisfy. The relations and constraints are entirely user-definable, although a set of predefined libraries of relations with associated constraints is provided for some of the most important aspects of software development (specification, design, implementation, testing, project management).The use of the binary relational model for describing the properties of software is backed by a theoretical study of the relations and constraints which play an important role in software development.