What is iArch-U?

Uncertainty can appear in all aspects of software development: uncertainty in requirements analysis, design decisions, implementation and testing. As the research on uncertainty is so young, there are many issues to be tackled. Modularity for uncertainty is one of them. If uncertainty can be dealt with modularly, we can add or delete uncertain concerns to/from models, code and tests whenever these concerns arise or are fixed to certain concerns.

The iArch-U Integrated Development Environment (IDE) has been developed for that purpose. iArch-U supports software development with controlled uncertainty management processes using an interface description language called Archface-U. Archface-U is a new interface description language designed to enable continuous development of the software, ensuring traceability between software design and implementation. It is an interface between UML models and Java code described on the iArch-U IDE.

iArch-U also has modelling and coding features which facilitate design and implementation involving uncertainty. iArch-U is an Eclipse plug-in, so you can view and edit project assets within an environment tightly integrated with Eclipse. It also has testing support and model inspection features for testing the software with uncertainty.

For detailed information, please refer to the documentation. For basic usage of iArch-U, please see the tutorials.

System requirements

• Java 8~
• Eclipse Neon~
• Graphiti SDK Plus 0.13~
• Xtext Complete SDK 2.10.0~

Also, if you would like to use the Testing Support function, please install a package below.

• AspectJ Development Tools 4.6~ (development build)

These requirements are not strict. You might be able to run iArch-U with older versions of middleware and/or libraries.

Installation

1. Download an iArch-U package archive file.
2. Start Eclipse.
3. Select Help -> Install New Software
   • Select Add and Archive to designate the downloaded archive file.
   • Uncheck Group items by category.
   • Check iArch Integrated Development Environment and proceed to install iArch-U IDE.
   • Install Graphiti SDK Plus and Xtext Complete SDK plug-ins from the Eclipse official site.
   • If you use the Testing Support function, also install a development build of AspectJ Development Tools by updating the URL to one of download sites shown here.
4. Restart Eclipse.

License

iArch-U is distributed under EPL - Eclipse Public License v 1.0