A.Aimar, M. Aimar, A.Khodabandeh,
P.Palazzi, B.Rousseau, M.Ruggier
CERN, ECP Division, Programming Techniques Group
CH 1211 GENEVA 23, SWITZERLAND
P.Comas Illas
CERN, PPE Division, ALEPH Group
CH 1211 GENEVA 23, SWITZERLAND
AbstractProgrammers who develop, use, maintain, modify software are faced with the problem of scanning and understanding large amounts of documents, ranging from source code to requirements, analysis and design diagrams, user and reference manuals, etc. This task is non trivial and time consuming, because of the number and size of documents, and the many implicit cross-references that they contain. In large HEP collaborations, where software and related documents are produced at various sites, the problem can be even more severe.
LIGHT, LIfe cycle Global HyperText, is an attempt to solve the problem using WWW technology. The basic idea is to make all the software documents, including code, available on the WWW, with all cross-references automatically established. For instance a click on an external subroutine call in the code takes you to its documentation, a click on a data element leads to the corresponding data definition, etc.
The first practical application of LIGHT is for JULIA, the reconstruction program of ALEPH. Programmers, documentation writers, maintainers of the data model and end users will be able to view through the web the entire Fortran source code, data definition, data design diagrams, as well as the JULIA, ALEPHLIB, CERNLIB, ADAMO and BOS manuals. All these documents are connected with hypertext links in such a way that, just using the mouse, helpful inspection can be performed.
For instance, from the code of a JULIA subroutine it is possible to navigate to:
Hyperized indices and dependency trees help the navigation.
The LIGHT system is generic by design; it can be applied to projects that use languages and formats other than those employed in ALEPH. The system is made up of two software layers. The first consists of an extensible set of converters to HTML (the HyperText Markup Language used in WWW), one per source language or format, to ensure the automatic conversion of individual documents. These are plugged into the generic second software layer that automatically performs the hypertext interconnection among all the converted documents, according to the preferences expressed in configuration rules.
Other ongoing applications of LIGHT concern the interactive access to physics data through WWW, and the wider coverage of the software life cycle, according to standards such as PSS-05 for which LIGHT is an ideal complement. The JULIA Web generated with the LIGHT system exists now in the form of an advanced demonstrator containing 6000 HTML pages and more than 110000 hypertext links. At the time of the conference it will hopefully be in production.
We have implemented several converters for Fortran 77, ADAMO Data Definition Language, OMTool diagrams and FrameMaker documents. LaTeX manuals are converted using LaTeX2html. Converters for C and C++ are in progress. The specification of the interface to build new converters or adapt existing ones for LIGHT compatibility are being finalized.
More information about LIGHT, as well as several examples can be accessed on WWW at the following URL:
SUBMITTER: Bertrand ROUSSEAU INSTITUTION: CERN, ECP Division, Programming Techniques Group ADDRESS: CH 1211 GENEVA 23, SWITZERLAND EMAIL: rousseau@ptsun00.cern.ch PHONE: (+ 41) 22 767 82 63 FAX: (+ 41) 22 767 87 30