Three Dimensions of Design Development.

Abstract

Formal specifications are difficult to understand for a number of reasons. When the developer of a large specification explains it to another person, he typically includes information in his explanation that is not present, even implicitly, in the specification itself. One useful form of information presents the specification in terms of an evolution from simpler specifications. Typically a specification was actually produced by a series of evolutionary steps reflected in the explanation. This paper suggests three dimensions of evolution that can be used to structure specification developments: structural granularity, temporal granularity, and coverage. Their use in a particular example is demonstrated. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 1983
Accession Number
ADA130588

Entities

People

  • Neil M. Goldman

Organizations

  • University of Southern California

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • California
  • Computer Programming
  • Contracts
  • Engineering
  • Formal Languages
  • Information Science
  • Language
  • Natural Disasters
  • Personal Information Managers
  • Sequences
  • Software Design
  • Software Development
  • Software Prototyping
  • Specifications
  • Universities

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Calculus or Mathematical Analysis
  • Computational Linguistics
  • Software Engineering.