Organizing HA program rules/logic/code

[MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

A major reason why home automation systems that approach useful levels
of complexity fail to thrive is that with increasing complexity of
rules (IF/THEN?ELSE or other logic), the system becomes too complex
for all but -- or even -- the original programmer to understand.
(Remember spaghetti code ?)

And as a HA system grows beyond a few lights and gizmos and begins to
involve usefully complex rules and logic, the likelihood that
programming errors will be embedded increases towards certainty.

The software I use (Cyberhouse by Savoy) incorporates rule-making
tools such as sets and graphical ways to show dependencies. Two major
shells were developed and a major installer training program
implemented to try to make the rule-making robust and serviceable.
Both ultimately failed commercially although the software is still
marketed commercially in a narrower industry.

Comparably advanced HA software by Premise Systems, after major hoopla
and hardware support, was sold to Motorola and seems moribund.  I
suspect that a major part of its problem was the difficulty of
managing the resulting custom software at a profit.

HomeSeer in 2005 is still quite primitive compared to CyberHouse circa
1999 in terms of rule-building and organizational tools.

Any experiences with other software that manages this well. Labview
shell/derivative ? MIT project ? SCADA ?

TIA ... Marc