Introduction to Pathmaker

A Suggested Life Cycle for a Pathmaker Application
Using Pathmaker—An Overview
3–12 067867 Tandem Computers Incorporated
A Suggested
Life Cycle for a
Pathmaker Application
Because the Pathmaker product is designed to be flexible, it does not always dictate a
fixed order for completing the tasks involved in a Pathmaker application development
effort. While this flexibility is often an advantage, it could cause confusion for first
time Pathmaker users or for project teams that consist of many members. Pathmaker
users need detailed information about what Pathmaker tasks need to be completed
and the best time to complete them.
This subsection addresses many of these concerns by suggesting a life cycle that can be
used as a high-level guide to a Pathmaker application development effort. Life cycle is
defined as an orderly series of events, usually divided into phases, in the life of an
application. Each phase should clearly define a set of objectives, the desired output,
and the required input.
Details about the tasks in each phase of the life cycle where the Pathmaker product is
used can be found in the Pathmaker Programming Guide. The major phases in the
suggested life cycle are as follows:
Definition
Design
Planning
Setup
Development
Documentation
Testing
Move into production
Maintenance
This suggested life cycle is intended for a formal Pathmaker application development
effort that will result in a production application. Although this is certainly not the
only possible life cycle, it is one that covers all of the important tasks that need to be
completed to successfully create a Pathmaker application. You are encouraged to
adapt this suggested life cycle to conform to the requirements of your particular
environment.
Definition The first phase of an application life cycle is definition. In this phase, a formal written
statement, clearly defining the application the end user wants and what the
application designers agree to provide, must be produced. This statement is usually
referred to as the problem specification and defines the job to be done. The Pathmaker
product is not used for this life cycle phase.