Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library

Type of Document	Master's Thesis
Author	Lande, Daniel Ross
Author's Email Address	danlande@gmail.com
URN	etd-12152008-222224
Title	Implementation of an XML-based user interface with applications in ice sheet modeling
Degree	Master of Science
Department	Computer Science
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Dr. Joel Henry Committee Chair Dr. Jeff Shay Committee Member Dr. Jesse Johnson Committee Member
Keywords	design patterns GLIMMER ice sheet modeling IDL interface description language ISIS Java scientific software software engineering user interface XML simulation EISMINT Greenland Antarctica factory pattern inheritance
Date of Defense	2008-05-06
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract The scientific domain presents unique challenges to software developers. This thesis describes the application of design patterns to the problem of dynamically changing interfaces to scientific application software (GLIMMER, which performs ice sheet modeling). In its present form, GLIMMER uses a text configuration file to define model behavior, set parameters, and structure model input/output (I/O). The creation of the configuration file presents a significant problem to users due to its format and complexity. GLIMMER is still under development, and the number of changes to configuration parameters, parameter types, and parameter dependencies makes devel-opment of any single interface of use only for a short term. The application of design patterns described here resulted in an interface specification tool that then generates multiple versions of a user interface usable across a wide variety of configuration pa-rameter types, values, and dependencies. The resulting products have leveraged de-sign patterns and solved problems associated with design pattern usage not found in the specialized software engineering literature.
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