Tron vs. the Critics Framework

The Tron framework has supplanted the critics framework as the primary way of integrating analysis tools into ArchStudio 3. Although the two frameworks are essentially compatible and could be included simultaneously into ArchStudio 3, we have decided to remove the critics framework from the ArchStudio 3 architecture entirely to avoid confusion and to encourage users to use the (in our opinion) superior Tron framework for building and applying analysis tools. The code for the critics framework components is still included in the ArchStudio 3 distribution, although it may be removed at a later date.

A feature comparison between the two frameworks is shown here:

Tron Framework	Critics Framework
Tools tend to perform many tests	Tools tend to perform few tests
Tools tend to be off-the-shelf	Tools tend to be custom-written
UI manages large test quantities well	UI manages small test quantities well
Tests can be individually applied to documents	All tests are always applied to all open documents
UI manages large test result sets well	UI manages small test result sets well
Tests are run when the user invokes them	Tests run continuously when enabled

Although Tron lacks the ability to run tests continuously while editing, we feel that this loss is more than made up for by the enhanced user interface and ability to better integrate off-the-shelf analysis tools that Tron provides. For example, Tron integrates the powerful Schematron XML validation language to check various aspects of consistency in architecture descriptions. Tron tests written in the Schematron language are approximately 5%-10% the code size of an equivalent critic. This massive reduction in test-writing effort and the ability to control how tests are applied to documents at an extremely fine-grained level of detail means much more effective analysis for end-users.

That's it!

Any questions or comments on this page should be sent to Eric Dashofy.