%0 Journal Article %1 Parnas1995 %A Parnas, David L. %D 1995 %J Science of Computer Programming %K engineering documentation requirements %N 1 %P 41--61 %T Functional Documents for Computer Systems %U http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~nernst/papers/parnas95-re.pdf %V 25 %X Although software documentation standards often go into great detail about the format of documents, describing such details as paragraph numbering and section headings, they fail to give precise descriptions of the information to be contained in the documents. This paper does the opposite; it defines the contents of documents without specifying their format or the notation to be used in them. We describe documents such as the System Requirements Document , the System Design Document , the Software Requirements Document , the Software Behaviour Specification , the Module Interface Specification , and the Module Internal Design Document as representations of one or more mathematical relations. By describing those relations, we specify what information should be contained in each document.

@article{Parnas1995, abstract = {Although software documentation standards often go into great detail about the format of documents, describing such details as paragraph numbering and section headings, they fail to give precise descriptions of the information to be contained in the documents. This paper does the opposite; it defines the contents of documents without specifying their format or the notation to be used in them. We describe documents such as the System Requirements Document , the System Design Document , the Software Requirements Document , the Software Behaviour Specification , the Module Interface Specification , and the Module Internal Design Document as representations of one or more mathematical relations. By describing those relations, we specify what information should be contained in each document.}, added-at = {2006-09-19T07:07:05.000+0200}, author = {Parnas, David L.}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2d396de9c86e11cc768931d2e327b0bc8/neilernst}, citeulike-article-id = {121579}, comment = {contrast with Agile methods e.g. favour product over documents "We believe that standard engineering practice can be applied in all phases of computer system design." emphasis on long-term value - how do you evaluate Agile designs? "Because computer systems are complex products, they require a great deal of documentation." - a fundamental assumption that is probably flawed}, interhash = {adb2f53756e560de399353384fba8376}, intrahash = {d396de9c86e11cc768931d2e327b0bc8}, journal = {Science of Computer Programming}, keywords = {engineering documentation requirements}, number = 1, pages = {41--61}, priority = {0}, timestamp = {2006-09-19T07:07:05.000+0200}, title = {Functional Documents for Computer Systems}, url = {http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~nernst/papers/parnas95-re.pdf}, volume = 25, year = 1995 }