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The User Software Engineering methodology is a set of techniques, supported by automated tools (Unified Support Environment), to support the specification and implementation of interactive information systems. The methodology advocates construction of a prototype of the user/program dialogue as an aid to the analysis process, and suggests the construction of a functional prototype as an aid to the specification. The USE tool RAPID (RApid Prototypes of Interactive Dialogues) supports the construction of prototypes and partial systems. RAPID builds upon two automated tools, the Transition Diagram Interpreter (TDI) and a relational database management system (Troll). This paper describes the role of prototypes in the USE methodology and the function and use of RAPID, TDI, and Troll.

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User Software Engineering is a methodology, with supporting tools, for the specification, design, and implementation of interactive information systems. With the USE approach, the user interface is formally specified with augmented state transition diagrams, and the operations may be formally specified with preconditions and postconditions. The USE state transition diagrams may be directly executed, with the application development tool RAPID/USE. RAPID/USE and its associated tool RAPSUM create and analyze logging information that is useful for system testing, and for evaluation and modification of the user interface. We briefly describe the USE transition diagrams and the formal specification approach, and show how these tools and techniques aid in the creation of reliable interactive information systems.