G4MICE Design Iteration
Malcolm Ellis
MICE Video
Conference
21st April 2004
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Iteration Process
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Collect Use Cases
Determine User Requirements
Identify components (that become classes)
Group components into categories (that become
domains)
Test some of the design (CRC workshop)
Detailed design
Begin coding, testing and release procedure…
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Use Cases
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Use Cases list the things that the users (i.e. the
collaboration) would like to do with the software
(e.g. fit tracks, simulate RF background, etc…)
 Use Cases were solicited via email and a web
interface, results available here:
– http://www.mice.iit.edu/cgi-bin/usecaselist
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A few more Use Cases were added during the lead
up to the software meeting to try to increase the
coverage of the software to include a reasonable
set of tasks.
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User Requirements
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User Requirements list the specific functionality
that the software must have in order to be able to
perform all the tasks identified in the Use Cases.
 These were identified in the lead-up to the
Software Workshop and finalised during the start
of the workshop.
 Both Use Cases and User Requirements can be
found on the design iteration page, which is linked
from the software page:
http://www.hep.ph.ic.ac.uk/~ellis/mice_software/software_designs.html
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Component Identification
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During the software workshop, everyone
was assigned an area of responsibility and
made a first pass at identifying the
components (classes) that are needed.
 Many of these are the same, or similar, to
classes already existing in G4MICE, others
are new.
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Domains Diagram
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Components that are related, and have similar
relationships with other components are grouped
into categories, which become domains (e.g.
Reconstruction, Visualisation, etc…)
 The result of this is a domains diagram, which
explicitly shows for a given domain what it
depends on and what depends on it.
 This has implications for compilation and testing.
 The domains diagram can be seen on the design
iteration page in GIF and PS formats.
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Domains Diagram
•DetModel – model of the
experiment
•EventModel – the classes
that are needed to make
simulation look like real data
•DetRep – representations of
the experiment
•Analysis – classes/code to
perform useful tasks
•Applications – where the
executables are built
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CRC Workshop
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At this stage, we had a rough design for most of
the software and a slightly more detailed design
for some of the components.
 We wanted to test the design of the particle ID
related classes that we had at that point, and so
conducted a CRC workshop.
 This allowed us to test the interfaces between
classes and the implementation of various tasks,
and allowed us to improve on the original design.
 I hope it also helped to give a better idea for how
objects interact in an Object Oriented manner.
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Workshop Results
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By the end of the workshop, we had
achieved the following:
– Completed Use Cases and Requirements
– Determined components and categories
– Started detailed design process
– Documented all work done so far
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A design document can be found here:
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http://www.hep.ph.ic.ac.uk/~ellis/mice_software/design_iter1/mice_architectural.v1r2.doc
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Detailed Design
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This process is now being carried out in parallel
by the software group.
 Each person is to give a report on their design for
the scrutiny of the group in coming software
phone meetings (SciFi related code is the first, at
next week’s meeting)
 As additions and modifications are approved, they
will be incorporated into the design documents
and diagrams available on the web
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Coding, testing and release
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The detailed design should be completed by the
summer.
 Yagmur has already prepared CVS areas for the
new code (so that it can grow separately from the
current version) and as designs are approved, the
corresponding code will be added to the
repository.
 In the lead-up to the change over to the new
software, tests will be written to cover all Use
Cases, and the correct release procedure will be
used for all subsequent releases.
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Software Course
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Simone Giani is a software engineering and project
management expert whose expertise has been invaluable to
HARP and who has already helped MICE a lot.
Simone and I are currently putting together a hands-on
course to cover the full software cycle from specifications
and design, through implementation and testing, to
delivery and operation of a product.
The idea is that there would be two 1 week courses (the
first at the end of August) where the theory and execution
of best-practise software engineering will be studied.
At the moment, it looks like the best time is outside of term
(due to teaching commitments), but just before or after, to
catch people before they go on holiday.
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Software Course
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At the moment, we are considering several UK locations
for the two weeks (e.g. Brunel and Glasgow).
Anyone (students, post-docs, professors) who can
contribute to the MICE software effort and who would like
to learn about software engineering as we would like to
implement it in MICE is encouraged to let me know.
Although we will hold it in the UK, it will not be restricted
just to UK participation.
Please let me know if you are interested, and how many
people from your institute may be able to come.
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