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1.1 CASE and CASE Tools

Although the idea of automating software development is by no means new, it only really caught on in the mid-80s when computerised tools for creating pictorial and text descriptions of information systems and storing and manipulating them started to appear. This new technology was promptly named CASE (Computer-Aided/Assisted Systems/Software Engineering), and the tools were accordingly called CASE tools.

To gain the full benefit of using CASE technology, it is crucial to adopt a design method, a tool that fully supports it, and to follow the method as closely as possible. This way the design documents get a standard appearance and content and are easy for other developers, managers, and end users to understand. Also, maintenance becomes a lot easier. This is true whether you use CASE for business modelling, for supporting a structured method or for some object-oriented method.

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