The most flexible Computer Aided Software Engineering system on the market was announced this week, claimed Yourdon International Ltd, London as it unveiled the latest update in its product line (CI No 767). Analyst/Designer Toolkit, Version 5, the PC-DOS-based successor of the Analyst/Designer Toolkit, Version 2.24, is on sale for UKP1,995, claimed to be about half the price of other software engineering products on the market today. As well as the standard features – automation of diagrams, multi-access diagram support, on-line help and support for other methods using an optional feature known as Rule Tool – Version 5 offers high resolution colour graphics, open architecture, a project dictionary and cut and paste graphics. And with the dBase III-compatible project dictionary, customised reports can be generated in addition to standard reports. Yourdon reckons it has the best user interface on the market and claims that software engineers can be up-and-running and effectively using their toolkit after one day. Version 5 is IBM XT- and AT-compatible and will run on the IBM PS/2 and Hewlett-Packard Vectra under MS-DOS 2.1 or higher. It requires 640Kb memory, a 10Mb Winchester, and 360Kb floppy disk drive. Yourdon forecasts between 7,500 and 12,500 sales of the latest Analyst/Designer Toolkit in Europe over the next 12 months. Upgrades for existing users are UKP200 a time; the company boasts 600 European users.
