Cost-effective evolution of research prototypes into end-user tools: The MACH case study

In this paper, we present the Model Analyzer/Checker (MACH), a stand-alone tool with a command-line interpreter. MACH integrates a set of research prototypes for analyzing UML models. By choosing a simple command line interpreter rather than (costly) graphical user interface, we achieved the core goal of quickly deploying research results to a broader audience while keeping the required effort to an absolute minimum. We analyze MACH as a case study of how requirements and constraints in an academic environment influence design decisions in software tool development. We argue that our approach while perhaps unconventional, serves its purpose with a remarkable cost-benefit ratio.