A Problem Frame-Based Approach to Evolvability: The Case of the Multi-translation

The problem frame approach allows to precisely pin the software development problems before starting to work on them, thus avoiding to solve the wrong problems. Furthermore, the problem frames allow to develop tailored methods and schematic solutions to handle the tasks required to solve the corresponding problems. In this paper we adopt this approach to study the problem of developing a large class of software systems able to translate in different ways some inputs in outputs (e.g., hybrid mail or big brothers filtering digital communications for suspicious words). Our interest in this kind of systems has been prompted by a cooperation with a big company producing systems of this kind and by their search of techniques and approaches to handle predictable and unpredictable changes. We want to investigate how and if the problem frame based approach will help to master the aspects relative to predictable and unpredictable changes in the context, in the domain and in the requirements. We thus present the Multi-Translation Frame.