ComLink 2000-08-30 (2008-04-25)
- an open and modular development environment for alternative communication and accessibility
- developed in the European Comspec project (page 1)

One of the objectives for the JavaKomp project has been to make an independent evaluation of ComLink, the Java based software delivered by the Comspec project - a European TIDE project completed in the summer 1998.

We have primarily concentrated on an evaluation of the prerequisites for utilising and further develop ComLink as an open and component based software development environment for alternative communication and other assistive technology tools for people with a wide range of special needs.

During the autumn of 1999 and spring 2000 four experienced Java programmers (see below) have – in two rounds – inspected the technical architecture, design and source code of ComLink. In order to achieve a concrete, realistic and useful evaluation, this has been combined with a number of practical tasks to update and complement the implementation. This work has resulted in the following:

• An updated ComLink version (pure Java2 - JDK 1.3 – with a Swing ased UI) – performed in two rounds: Autumn 1999 by Peter Norrhall and Anders Quist (Linné - Cell Network Göteborg), and spring-summer 2000 by Lars Nordberg (Femtio Procent Data) and Bengt Farre (Androtech). Here is alink to the JavaDoc documentation for the updated version.

• A set of Comspec-ComLink-reports produced by Peter Norrhall and Anders Quist, in co-operation with the JavaKomp project manager (Mats Lundälv).

• A presentation of ComLink and JavaKomp at the AAATE conference in Düsseldorf (October-November 1999) by Mats Lundälv – see AAATE paper: “ComLink, an Open and Component Based Development Environment for Communication Aids”

More Comspec-ComLink information:

Some basic information about the Comspec project, and the download of the original version of ComLink is found at: The Comspec project site

A technical specification for the original Comspec Java implementation: Comspec on Java (PDF)

The ComLink User Manual (PDF)

Additional documentation of ComLink Sample Applications (PDF)

The original ComLink JavaDoc documentation

Go to ComLink – page 2