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From: munck@chance.uucp (Robert Munck)
Newsgroups: comp.edu,comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: CS education
Message-ID: <80893@linus.UUCP>
Date: 19 Nov 89 09:53:05 GMT
References: <7036@hubcap.clemson.edu> <7046@hubcap.clemson.edu> <1054@scotty.Atlanta.NCR.COM> <4992@ae.sei.cmu.edu>
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Reply-To: munck@chance.UUCP (Robert Munck)
Organization: MITRE-McLean Software Engineering Laboratory
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In article <4992@ae.sei.cmu.edu> rsd@sei.cmu.edu (Richard S D'Ippolito) writes:
>In article <1054@scotty.Atlanta.NCR.COM> K. C. Yakemovic writes:
>
>>It is my opinion that one of the greatest weaknesses we have in industry is
>>in the *requirements analysis* [RA] area. ...
>
>What do you mean by requirements, and what are examples of those things that
>you would like taught?  Is RA part of the design process?  Who does it?
>

In the SADT requirements analysis methodology (Ross, et.al.), a
requirements specification is said to be a comprehensive statement of
the changes necessary to transform the current situation into the
desired situation.  Such a statement must include detailed descriptions
of both the current and desired situations to be understandable.  In
SADT, each of these descriptions consists of structured (that is,
containing several levels of overview/detail) models with various
viewpoints, contexts, and purposes.

Among the topics discussed in the full 120-hour SADT course are:

o Interviewing application experts who may have no computer background;

o Writing specs that are understandable by such experts;

o Dealing with organizational politics;

o Teamwork based on courtesy, individual strengths, shared goals; and

o Striking a balance between abstractness and early design.

I've taught both at a university and in commercial/military
institutions; IMO, most of the material in a requirements analysis
course is so different from the "flavor" of an academic course that it
could not be taught to anyone without five years or so of "real-world
experience."
                 -- Bob <Munck@MITRE.ORG>, linus!munck.UUCP
                 -- MS Z676, MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA 22120
                 -- 703/883-6688