Specification for the representation of quality rules and metrics for hardware and software design languages

Information systems (IS) are situated in and representations of business and organizational domains. Conceptual models of the real world serve as tools for understanding the business domain. Conceptual modelling is thus an important first step in any IS development project. As no language has been generally accepted for conceptual modelling, researchers have proposed extending the use of widely accepted object-oriented software design languages such as UML for this purpose. A major problem with this is the fact that such languages possess no real-world business or organizational meaning— that is, it is unclear what the constructs of such languages mean in terms of the business. This chapter discusses how such meaning can be assigned to languages like UML. It provides an example that demonstrates the differences between a software design model and a conceptual model in UML. This chapter shows that UML is suitable for conceptual modelling but that the modeller must take special care not to confuse software aspects with aspects of the real world being modelled.

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Tools for software design: Program design languages (pdl's)

Microelectronics Reliability ◽

10.1016/0026-2714(87)90333-7 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 27 (5) ◽

pp. 847-857 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Yosef S. Sherif

Keyword(s):

Software Design ◽

Program Design ◽

Design Program ◽

Design Languages

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An overview of some software design languages

Journal of Systems and Software ◽

10.1016/0164-1212(89)90024-1 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 125-138

Author(s):

Panayotis E. Pintelas ◽

Vasilios Kallistros

Keyword(s):

Software Design ◽

Design Languages

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Flowcharts vs. Program Design Languages: An Experimental Comparison

Proceedings of the Human Factors Society Annual Meeting ◽

10.1177/1071181378022001186 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 709-713 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

H. Rudy Ramsey ◽

Michael E. Atwood ◽

James R. Van Doren

Keyword(s):

Software Design ◽

Program Design ◽

Experimental Comparison ◽

Subjective Ratings ◽

Short Term ◽

Space Saving ◽

Design Languages ◽

Detailed Computer ◽

Standard Documentation

An experiment was performed to assess the relative merits of Program Design Languages (PDLs) and flowcharts as techniques for the development and documentation of detailed designs for computer programs. The use of a PDL by a software designer, for the development and description of a detailed program design, produced better results than did the use of flowcharts. Specifically, the designs appeared to be of significantly better quality, involving more algorithmic or procedural detail, than those produced using flowcharts. In addition, flowchart designs exhibited considerably more abbreviation and other space-saving practices than did PDL designs, with a possible adverse effect on their readability. When equivalent, highly readable designs were presented to subjects in both PDL and flowchart form, no pattern of short-term or long-term differences in comprehension of the design was observed. No significant differences were detected in the quality or other properties of programs written as implementations of the designs. Subjective ratings indicated a mild preference for PDLs. Overall, the results suggest that software design performance and designer-programmer communication might be significantly improved by the adoption of informal Program Design Languages, rather than flowcharts, as a standard documentation method for detailed computer program designs.

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