Presentation of software development information in K2

K2 is a new approach to solving two of the most difficult problems in the area of programming-in-the-large-mastery of the structural complexity of large software systems and effective presentation of the information accumulated during the development process. Programming-in-the-large refers to those aspects of software development concerned with the specification, design, integration, and maintenance of software systems at a higher level than that of a single module. The major objective of K2 is to effectively represent and manipulate the building blocks of a software system and their myriad dependencies, thereby aiding the development phases of the project. The K2 environment is an integrated collection of tools that allows the members of a complex software project to organize development information by manipulating system description documents of various types and by establishing links between those documents. System description documents support the project from the early specification and design phases through the long-term maintenance phases. The K2 system will improve the productivity of the designer, programmer, integrator, and maintainer.