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March 02, 2005
Design documents
Jack W. Reeves wrote a paper some years ago about software design, defining the design to be the source code. He recently wrote his own review of the discussion and criticism of his ideas, in which he states what he means by a design document:
When the document is detailed enough, complete enough, and unambiguous enough that it can be interpreted mechanistically, whether by a computer or by an assembly line worker, then you have a design document. If it still requires creative human interpretation, then you don’t.
That's still a refreshing view on what purpose source code serves, and suggests why you might need to revise, revise, revise even after you get something that seems to work according to the requirements identified. It also makes me think that most software design is beyond the comprehension of anybody not working on the software. It explains as well why good software design is hard.
Posted by Mark at March 2, 2005 02:39 PM