| ??? 03/11/06 18:50 Read: times |
#111992 - write the documentation first Responding to: ???'s previous message |
It sounds as though you've fallen into the trap that gets most programmers. Software and firmware have to be testable. Testing is not a process of seeing whether it compiles, and then seeing whether it "does" something. Testing is a process of taking a piece of hardware/firmware/software, and subjecting it to hostile events as well as normal conditions, and verifying that it behaves as was intended. The intention of the designer is the goal that the coder must meet in order to succeed in fulfilling his role.
The designer must precisely specify what the code must do as well as when and how and under which conditions it must do it. He must also specify how the system behaves under both normal and abnormal operating conditions. The coder must ensure that all the designer's specified requirements are met. He must not add anything, and he must not omit anything. The tester must ensure that the designer's specifications are met under ALL presumed operating conditions. Failure modes must be documented and consistent with the designer's spec's as well. Any failures that fall outside the predicted behaviors must be documented, fed back to the designer, and resolved. Failures won't even be recognized if documentation in clearly written form doesn't exist. I've had more than one client tell me that the design and documentation takes 99% of the effort, the debugging, 0.9%, and the coding takes the remaining .1%. Testing is a separate process undertaken only after the work is essentially complete. RE |
| Topic | Author | Date |
| How do you manage Documentation? | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| As soon as you finish?? | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| User Manual | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| it all is very simple | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| too late and totally wrong | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| you have an easy life won't you | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Of course, you only have enough informat | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| more on the above, the beauty of the hoo | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| in C? | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| please do not accuse me of unnatural act | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Design Info | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| viewpoint | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| General Principles | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| the clients... | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Client Variety | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| It's like I said last month ... | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Great | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| I, J OK | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Repetition | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| My old DOS based suite... | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Two categories | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
MIL498 | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| write the documentation first | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Good points.. | 01/01/70 00:00 |