Parallels in Computer-Aided Design Framework and Software Development Environment Efforts

This paper is an attempt to raise awareness about the similarities between the efforts of the software development environment (SDE) community and the electronic computer-aided design (CAD) framework community. Apparently, SDE and CAD engineers are not aware of what is happening in each other's fields, yet cross-pollenization of efforts would assist progress. Both communities are addressing the same problems of providing configuration management (CM), tool integration, and process management support in their environment. Each community can benefit from the other since both have similar needs and have found, and are finding, similar solutions. It is particularly useful to consider collaborative efforts as both communities are evolving towards standardization.