A software building support system capable of efficiently building, managing
and
reusing a software program. The software building support system includes a program
design part for supporting the design of a composite program and for outputting
the results thereof as a program structure information. The program design part
includes a component line-connection part for defining the structure of the composite
program on the basis of instructions obtained by a graphical interface, and a composite
component setting part for setting a plurality of software components as a single
composite component. The composite component setting part includes a terminal setting
part for setting a terminal of the composite component, which is used for allowing
the composite component to communicate with another external component, and an
attribute setting part for setting an inherent property of the composite component.