This paper describes a technique that models a software system from its description in Program Design Language (PDL). The author’s support tool generates a representation of the target system in a semantic net data structure, then supports user inquiries relative to specific maintenance requirements. The author presents the support system design philosophy, some details of the intermediate system representation, and a sample dialogue in which maintenance information is sought.

As a brief statement of the author’s research, the paper succeeds. The system’s best feature is its incorporation of automated support for software maintenance. The major difficulty with the paper is that the automatic features do not go far enough and validation is not discussed. Specifically, users are forced to manually maintain the PDL, its derived source of code, and all other affected parts of the system. In addition, no attempt is made to measure the precision and recall of the support tool relative to the system whose PDL it models.

The concept of automated support for software maintenance based on PDL has a special appeal as practical ADA environments begin to emerge (a concept which is not mentioned in the paper). The author’s approach may eventually prove to be valuable, but in its current form the technique needs more development and the tool needs to be validated.