Model-Driven Development for End-Users, too!?

Abstract

Elicitating the requirements and creating a model of a software system are standard activities in the development process of professional software development. The talk discusses whether these two development phases are also present in end-user software development and how they could look like. It is argued that one has to distinguish between at least two types of end-user software developers. Those, who are not professional software developers, but work in an engineering domain and follow stepwise development processes. They are used to have requirements specifications as well as models, too. But, non-professional, non-engineering end-users, e.g. spreadsheet developers, don't and would not like to distinguish between different steps in the development process. Therefore, we propose to hide the distinction between these different steps by closely interconnecting requirements specification, models and code, and by putting them into one development box.  By offering appropriate interface functions like create, adapt, refine, etc. to the box,  the end-user is supported in developing software without being aware that he is undergoing a stepwise refinement process from requirements specifications towards concrete code.