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NATO SOFTWARE ENGINEERING CONFERENCE 1968
Appendices
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A3. ORIGINAL LIST OF TOPICS THAT WERE TO BE DISCUSSED
Working Group D — Design
D1. General Guidelines
D1.1 Design as controlled by external function.
The environments (user, equipment, etc.) guide the design.
Example: User languages and storage requirement guide the design.
D1.2 Design as controlled by internal function.
The functions (parsers, I/O routines, file systems, symbol tables) guide the design.
Example: Sharing of functions among sub-systems which appear different to the user.
D2. General Techniques
D2.1 Deductive or inductive method of design.
Increasing specialization of goal versus increasing complexity of combinations of building-blocks.
D2.2 The search for modularity and establishment of general interfaces.
D2.3 Complexity controlled by hierarchical ordering of function and variability.
D2.4 Design controlled by increasing specialization of description.
The use of simulation to monitor the design process.
D3. Proscriptions
D3.1 Intrinsic features I: Completeness, efficiency, modularity, communicability.
With respect to the goals performs and communicates well the complete set of functions using a minimum of units.
D3.2 Intrinsic features II: self-monitoring and improvement of performance.
Every system represent a compromise under insufficient knowledge of load. Use should lead to improvement of performance.
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D3.3 Designing incremental systems.
Reaching a target system from a given system.
Adjoining and merging separately designed systems to form a new one.
D3.4 The issue of balance I:
Balancing the cost versus the merit of control, security, training, and convenience.
D3.5 The issue of balance II:
The virtue of limited goals to attain excellent performance.
D4. Relevant Design Problems
D4.1 The influence of data structures on system design.
D4.2 Allocation of fixed resources among competing processes.
Application to time sharing.