Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!caip!nike!ucbcad!ucbvax!decwrl!williams@kirk.dec.com
From: williams@kirk.dec.com (John Williams 223-3402)
Newsgroups: net.arch
Subject: Top-down vs. Bottom-up
Message-ID: <4341@decwrl.DEC.COM>
Date: Tue, 22-Jul-86 10:02:07 EDT
Article-I.D.: decwrl.4341
Posted: Tue Jul 22 10:02:07 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 23-Jul-86 08:42:02 EDT
Sender: daemon@decwrl.DEC.COM
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Lines: 12

The design process is actually both. The top and the bottom represent
the limits of the designer's knowledge, and are given a priori to the
design. The designer then works towards the middle to some form of
representative block diagram. This allows two things to happen:

1) System functionality is defined, and a design can be evaluated
from an environmental standpoint.

2) Primitive components are selected by virtue of their quality, choosing
the best components for the best design.

						John.