Software design description

Last updated

A software design description (a.k.a. software design document or SDD; just design document; also Software Design Specification) is a representation of a software design that is to be used for recording design information, addressing various design concerns, and communicating that information to the design’s stakeholders. [1] An SDD usually accompanies an architecture diagram with pointers to detailed feature specifications of smaller pieces of the design. Practically, the description is required to coordinate a large team under a single vision, needs to be a stable reference, and outline all parts of the software and how they will work.

Contents

Composition

The SDD usually contains the following information:

  1. The Data-driven design describes structures that reside within the software. Attributes and relationships between data objects dictate the choice of data structures.
  2. The architecture design uses information flowing characteristics, and maps them into the program structure. The transformation mapping method is applied to exhibit distinct boundaries between incoming and outgoing data. The data flow diagrams allocate control input, processing and output along three separate modules.
  3. The interface design describes internal and external program interfaces, as well as the design of the human interface. Internal and external interface designs are based on the information obtained from the analysis model.
  4. The procedural design describes structured programming concepts using graphical, tabular and textual notations.

These design mediums enable the designer to represent procedural detail, that facilitates translation to code. This blueprint for implementation forms the basis for all subsequent software engineering work.

IEEE 1016

IEEE 1016-2009, titled IEEE Standard for Information Technology—Systems Design—Software Design Descriptions, [2] is an IEEE standard that specifies "the required information content and organization" for an SDD. [3] IEEE 1016 does not specify the medium of an SDD; it is "applicable to automated databases and design description languages but can be used for paper documents and other means of descriptions." [4]

The 2009 edition was a major revision to IEEE 1016-1998, elevating it from recommended practice to full standard. This revision was modeled after IEEE Std 1471-2000, Recommended Practice for Architectural Description of Software-intensive Systems, extending the concepts of view, viewpoint, stakeholder, and concern from architecture description to support documentation of high-level and detailed design and construction of software. [IEEE 1016, Introduction]

Following the IEEE 1016 conceptual model, an SDD is organized into one or more design views. Each design view follows the conventions of its design viewpoint. IEEE 1016 defines the following design viewpoints for use: [5]

In addition, users of the standard are not limited to these viewpoints but may define their own. [6]

IEEE status

IEEE 1016-2009 is currently listed as 'Inactive - Reserved'. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VHDL</span> Hardware description language

The VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL) is a hardware description language (HDL) that can model the behavior and structure of digital systems at multiple levels of abstraction, ranging from the system level down to that of logic gates, for design entry, documentation, and verification purposes. Since 1987, VHDL has been standardized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) as IEEE Std 1076; the latest version of which is IEEE Std 1076-2019. To model analog and mixed-signal systems, an IEEE-standardized HDL based on VHDL called VHDL-AMS has been developed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Software architecture</span> High level structures of a software system

Software architecture is the set of structures needed to reason about a software system and the discipline of creating such structures and systems. Each structure comprises software elements, relations among them, and properties of both elements and relations.

Verilog, standardized as IEEE 1364, is a hardware description language (HDL) used to model electronic systems. It is most commonly used in the design and verification of digital circuits at the register-transfer level of abstraction. It is also used in the verification of analog circuits and mixed-signal circuits, as well as in the design of genetic circuits. In 2009, the Verilog standard was merged into the SystemVerilog standard, creating IEEE Standard 1800-2009. Since then, Verilog has been officially part of the SystemVerilog language. The current version is IEEE standard 1800-2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IEEE-488</span> General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB) specification

IEEE 488, also known as HP-IB and generically as GPIB, is a short-range digital communications 8-bit parallel multi-master interface bus specification developed by Hewlett-Packard. It subsequently became the subject of several standards.

Requirements engineering (RE) is the process of defining, documenting, and maintaining requirements in the engineering design process. It is a common role in systems engineering and software engineering.

A software requirements specification (SRS) is a description of a software system to be developed. It is modeled after the business requirements specification (CONOPS). The software requirements specification lays out functional and non-functional requirements, and it may include a set of use cases that describe user interactions that the software must provide to the user for perfect interaction.

IEEE 802.1Q, often referred to as Dot1q, is the networking standard that supports virtual local area networking (VLANs) on an IEEE 802.3 Ethernet network. The standard defines a system of VLAN tagging for Ethernet frames and the accompanying procedures to be used by bridges and switches in handling such frames. The standard also contains provisions for a quality-of-service prioritization scheme commonly known as IEEE 802.1p and defines the Generic Attribute Registration Protocol.

A test plan is a document detailing the objectives, resources, and processes for a specific test session for a software or hardware product. The plan typically contains a detailed understanding of the eventual workflow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department of Defense Architecture Framework</span> Enterprise architecture framework

The Department of Defense Architecture Framework (DoDAF) is an architecture framework for the United States Department of Defense (DoD) that provides visualization infrastructure for specific stakeholders concerns through viewpoints organized by various views. These views are artifacts for visualizing, understanding, and assimilating the broad scope and complexities of an architecture description through tabular, structural, behavioral, ontological, pictorial, temporal, graphical, probabilistic, or alternative conceptual means. The current release is DoDAF 2.02.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Multibus</span> Computer bus standard

Multibus is a computer bus standard used in industrial systems. It was developed by Intel Corporation and was adopted as the IEEE 796 bus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DNP3</span> Computer network protocol

Distributed Network Protocol 3 (DNP3) is a set of communications protocols used between components in process automation systems. Its main use is in utilities such as electric and water companies. Usage in other industries is not common. It was developed for communications between various types of data acquisition and control equipment. It plays a crucial role in SCADA systems, where it is used by SCADA Master Stations, Remote Terminal Units (RTUs), and Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs). It is primarily used for communications between a master station and RTUs or IEDs. ICCP, the Inter-Control Center Communications Protocol, is used for inter-master station communications. Competing standards include the older Modbus protocol and the newer IEC 61850 protocol.

IEEE 1471 is a superseded IEEE standard for describing the architecture of a "software-intensive system", also known as software architecture.

Instrument control consists of connecting a desktop instrument to a computer and taking measurements.

Unified Power Format (UPF) is the popular name of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard for specifying power intent in power optimization of electronic design automation. The IEEE 1801-2009 release of the standard was based on a donation from the Accellera organization. The current release is IEEE 1801-2018.

IP-XACT, also known as IEEE 1685, is an XML format that defines and describes individual, re-usable electronic circuit designs to facilitate their use in creating integrated circuits. IP-XACT was created by the SPIRIT Consortium as a standard to enable automated configuration and integration through tools and evolving into an IEEE standard.

A concept of operations is a document describing the characteristics of a proposed system from the viewpoint of an individual who will use that system. Examples include business requirements specification or stakeholder requirements specification (StRS). CONOPS is used to communicate the quantitative and qualitative system characteristics to all stakeholders. CONOPS are widely used in the military, governmental services and other fields.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">View model</span>

A view model or viewpoints framework in systems engineering, software engineering, and enterprise engineering is a framework which defines a coherent set of views to be used in the construction of a system architecture, software architecture, or enterprise architecture. A view is a representation of the whole system from the perspective of a related set of concerns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IEEE 1394</span> Serial bus interface standard, also known as Firewire

IEEE 1394 is an interface standard for a serial bus for high-speed communications and isochronous real-time data transfer. It was developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s by Apple in cooperation with a number of companies, primarily Sony and Panasonic. It is most commonly known by the name FireWire (Apple), though other brand names exist such as i.LINK (Sony), and Lynx.

Software architecture description is the set of practices for expressing, communicating and analysing software architectures, and the result of applying such practices through a work product expressing a software architecture.

Advanced Library Format (ALF), also known as IEEE 1603 or IEC 62265, is an IEEE and IEC standard that describes a data specification language for library elements used in ASIC design applications for integrated circuits. ALF can model behavior, timing, power and noise, hot electron, electromigration, antenna effects, physical abstraction and physical implementation rules of library elements.

References

  1. ↑ IEEE Standard for Information Technology--Systems Design--Software Design Descriptions. IEEE STD 1016-2009. July 2009. pp. 1–35. doi:10.1109/ieeestd.2009.5167255. ISBN   978-0-7381-5925-6.
  2. ↑ IEEE Standard for Information Technology--Systems Design--Software Design Descriptions. IEEE. 2009-07-20. doi:10.1109/IEEESTD.2009.5167255. ISBN   978-0-7381-5925-6.
  3. ↑ IEEE 1016, Abstract.
  4. ↑ IEEE 1016, Abstract.
  5. ↑ IEEE 1016, Clause 5.
  6. ↑ IEEE 1016, sub-clause 4.5.
  7. ↑ IEEE Standard for Information Technology--Systems Design--Software Design Descriptions. IEEE STD 1016-2009. July 2009. pp. 1–35. doi:10.1109/IEEESTD.2009.5167255. ISBN   978-0-7381-5925-6.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.