Hardware and software requirements examples of metaphors

The following software project management plan spmp describes the proposed plan to be taken by terasoft, inc. It has occasionally been difficult to explain to the people we train that the sanctuary model is not a specific treatment intervention, that it is structurally deeper than a specific intervention, although. For example, the computer monitor you are using to read this text and the mouse you are using to navigate this web page are computer hardware. Metaphor brainstorming is a powerful complement to traditional brainstorming. Even the idea of navigating is a contextual metaphor that implies you are moving around the content. Example software requirements specification document for. Examples include the mouse, keyboard, processor, monitor, printer, etc. The first step in the software specification process will be the definition of our system at the operational. The language of computer science in general, and software development in particular, is laced with metaphor. However metaphors can be problematic because they describe something unfamiliar in terms of something familiar that may actually be very different.

Chrome browser allows browsing websites and the internet. Feb 21, 2015 chapter 02 multimedia systems hardware and software 1. An information system as a mill is characterized by. Swen 444 human centered requirements and design project breakdown. Aug 29, 2011 this stands for the refreshed system metaphor too. I specify the requirements and i get that delivered. Software architecture refers to the fundamental structures of a software system and the discipline of creating such structures and systems. We have to look in system and integration requirements given in the software requirement specifications or user stories and apply to each and every requirement quality. For example, the systems that controlled the space shuttle launch vehicle. Metaphors are very diffused in programming, trying to bridge the technical part of it with comprehension of real world objects. As you noted, these words have now developed broader, metaphorical meaning, so that we can, for example, talk about the human mind as software of the body.

A software requirements specification srs is a document that describes the nature of a project, software or application. Metaphors are the solid business abstractions that software is designed around. The arbitrariness of most software concepts, which is related to historical hardware and software implementation, lack of common standards worldwide, and economic pressures. User requirements specify the acceptable level of user performance and satisfaction with the system p 64. Software is so steeped in metaphors that we often overlook the extent and nature of these metaphors. As such, it deals only with the delivery of the software component of the project. But metaphors also target the process of software development, and not only the final product.

Each structure comprises software elements, relations among them, and properties of both elements and relations. These are the creators of devices, languages, algorithms, or data structures who need. Software engineering with an agile development framework. If each of your pcs will be running any version of windows 98 or later, you have all the operating system software you need for a home network. Kent beck, author of extreme programming explained defines a system metaphor as.

Powerful metaphors for software development herbjorns blog. Magnifying glasses to zoom in folder icons to show containers of documents binoculars to find things web catalogs that turn pages. For example, we might find the following line of code in a java program. This virtual system we will call the operational metaphor. Both the above statements may be called requirements. Based on the requirements developer understand how to develop the interface. Metaphors are the unambiguously defined concepts that ground the business process.

Metaphor types range from conceptual and visual to dead metaphors, which lose their impact and meaning due to overuse. Hardware interfaces software interfaces communication. Allowing multiple metaphors to complement each other may not be an easy task but according to gareth it is well worth our time. Apr 29, 2003 much of stephensons essay talks about metaphors for different operating systems, and how their creators get consumers to buy into those metaphors, then goes on to talk about how the metaphors affect the companies and their customers. Communication is king in the abstract world of software architecture, and so communication is the ultimate metric for determining whether a system metaphor is good or bad. There are only two reasons to invest in apple and microsoft. For example, a computer game may require you computer to have windows xp or later.

To quote a famous sage, its a common word, something you use everyday. When talking about programming, i pick on git because the metaphors ive heard during explanations of different git commands tend to be convolutedoften making an explanation far harder to understand than the underlying concept. Describe the ease with which users are able to operate the software. First of all, lets address the reason why it is essential to write a system requirements specification during software development process as documentation is part of software development process.

Lakoff and johnson 1980 argue that we live our life by metaphors. But computer science metaphors also serve an important but distinct purpose for those engaged in the creative activity of hardware production and software tool development. The hardware and software of a workplace is important to the support of personal, workgroup, and enterprise computing. Like fish in water, software developers often do not perceive the medium that surrounds us. Type and metaphor for computer programmers university of.

This paper investigates a number of important metaphors in re and proposes a novel re approach that adopts capability as requirement metaphor. All systems meet applicable industry standards for example, iec 62368 for consumer electronics safety. The software elements and the hardware elements correspond to each other as follows. A specific type of metaphor is even used in psychological counseling. Guidelines for the system metaphor reflections on software. Therefore, metaphors seem to be especially useful for explaining the space of possible meaning complexes or designs of information systems. So what metaphors can we find that are relevant for software development.

This is, by no means, the limit of what can be said of each metaphor. We argue that computer science metaphors provide a conceptual framework. Without any hardware, a computer would not function, and software would have nothing to run on. Magnifying glasses to zoom in folder icons to show containers of documents binoculars to find things web catalogs that turn pages like a book trash cans to delete files, as well as where to find deleted files to get them back on. On both web and mobile, off canvas slide out menus are portrayed as layers that have a spacial relationship with each other, but really that itself is just a metaphor.

In the course on xp i took, metaphors seemed to be the most unconceivable concept. In what form should we document and present the requirements. It is the physical components that make up the computer. Also known as data warehouse or enterprise data warehouse it is a central repository of data which is created by integrating data from multiple disparate sources introduction to it dataware jamie barnes 1. The following points are required for a good thermal hardware design. Beside each word is a short sentence using the metaphor, followed by an implication or conclusion that can be drawn from the usage. Examples, requirements and diagnostics microsoft docs. A statement of a customer need or objective, or of a condition or capability that a product must possess to satisfy such a need or objective.

Sep 19, 2008 the more your metaphors align with reality, and the more you can eliminate ambiguity among and between metaphors in your requirements, the easier it will be for software designers, architects, and developers to model and fashion a system around them. Writing good software requirements takes skill, practice, and patience. The metaphor machine was one of the first commercial workstations to offer a complete hardwaresoftware package and a gui. As a utility metaphors of information technologies. The architecture of a software system is a metaphor, analogous to the. A structured requirements specification capturing textual requirements for a given product or service. A perfect example of hardware is the screen on which you are viewing this page. Even here, agreement is only reached on the first two lines of this page, the rest being a presentation of very different ideas on what a system metaphor actually is. In software development the system metaphor has been adopted as a core practice by the agile community. Karl wiegers, in his popular book software requirements defines requirement as follows. Linguistics, cognitive psychology, philosophy of science. In all of these examples, an abstraction is created to manage complexity. Metaphors in computer science december 4, 2008 shrutarshi basu thanks to slashdot i came across the transcription of a very interesting lecture given by edsgar dijkstra, one of the most important computer scientists before the age of the personal computer. We realized we needed a new metaphor, since metaphors are especially useful.

Understand the role of software and how it can be matched to particular departments, tasks and uses to streamline productivity. Its considered one of the initial stages of development. Depend on the type of software, expected users and the type of system where the software is used functional user requirements may be highlevel statements of what the system should do but functional system requirements should describe the system services in detail examples of functional requirements 1. It systems are increasingly needed for companies to be able to operate at all. The metaphor that im considering is one in which the software is an amorphous blob of children in a school system, the software engineers are teachers, the software architect is, perhaps a principal, the project managers are deans or the equivalent, and marketing people are the political school board types that set the curriculum. Computer hardware is any physical device used in or with your machine, whereas software is a collection of code installed onto your computers hard drive. It is against district policy for any manager, supervisor, faculty, staff or student to engage in discrimination of any member of the college community based on race, color, religion, ethnicity, national origin, age, sex, gender. However, there are loads of other metaphors that are used in web design to bridge the gap between actual and virtual life. Description of a computer metaphor to understand attachment and sanctuary. This includes the computer case, monitor, keyboard, and mouse. The analogy between mindbrain and softwarehardware is far, far deeper than its opponents comprehend. When hardware and software interfaces have to be specified.

Well explore the definition and purpose, and discuss a few metaphors used in some xp projects. Once all the requirements are gathered a detailed analysis is conducted. Feb 26, 2012 the system metaphor is one of the trickier parts of xp extreme programming. These are the necessary specifications your computer must have in order to use the software or hardware. Three information system metaphors and the associated meaning complexes are explained. Hood community college promotes nondiscrimination by maintaining a respectful working and learning environment free of all forms of discrimination and harassment. Media player allows videos and audios to play, microsoft word allows for writing documents. An nps node experiences a hardware or software failure, resulting in the temporary inability to process query or update transactions. For example, if we are going to build a software with regards to system and integration requirements.

I am a big believer in the power of metaphor and analogy in software development. Be able to build a basic hardware requirement list for an organisation given factors such as numbers of staff, locations, networks, user types and others. Examples might be microsoft kinect to develop a nontraditional application based on the use of gestures. The hardware basics that you need for a simple network include a network adapter card or pc card, a network router or switch, and cabling. For a service to be regarded as a utility a combination of requirements have to. Other platforms other hardwaresoftware platforms may be used with instructor approval. To do this we need software that is easy to change and adapt to new business requirements. For this second meaning, i prefer to use the more general term requirements and specifications over the more opaque system requirements. Software only has its technical meaning, which was coined by analogy to hardware. They let you think about things at a higher level without being bogged down by what the actual details are.

Software is the programming code that makes the computer work. It has occasionally been difficult to explain to the people we train that the sanctuary model is not a specific treatment intervention, that it is structurally deeper than a specific intervention, although many interventions are compatible with it. As such, metaphors are political devices since they not only help us to think. Recent social and affective neuroscience research shows that a computer is an inadequate and misleading metaphor for the brain, and this research is going to be the focus of my blog. Web servers are electrical devices known as computers that open pages on the web.

We discuss the requirements challenges coming from. Jan 03, 20 on my mind at the moment is the hunt for some useful and enlightening metaphors for the cornelius operating system, particularly in the area of hardware control and multitasking. The picture is a logitech webcam, an example of an external hardware peripheral. The more your metaphors align with reality, and the more you can eliminate ambiguity among and between metaphors in your requirements, the easier it will be for software designers, architects, and developers to model and fashion a system around them. Well explore possible metaphors for two types of systems. You need to supply the platform hardware and software. Both hardware and software designers, for example, borrowed the concept of. Metaphors that enhance communication are better than ones that confuse or mislead the team. Each web server has an ip address and also on some occasions a domain name. Functional requirements specify what the system must do.

Most poems, for example, contain at least one metaphor, and many are nothing more than a single extended metaphor. By contrast, software is instructions that can be stored and ran by h. Hardware and software form the main part of any computing device. Swen 445 honors human centered requirements and design. Chapter 02 multimedia systems hardware and software. Indurkhya characterizes metaphor as a description of an object or event, real or imagined, using concepts that cannot be applied to the object or event in a conventional way p. For example, if the computers host name is hostname1. Software and hardware components of an information system.

Metaphor computer systems 19821994 was a xerox parc spinoff that created an advanced workstation, database gateway, a unique graphical office interface, and software applications that communicate clarification needed. The next few sections explore the most essential software metaphors. On the analogy between mindbrain and softwarehardware. Hardware vs software difference and comparison diffen. This is a list of metaphors from the world of computing, rather than metaphors for computer. While i could just progress with the standard wisdom, i thought it might be interesting to consider alternatives, see how they hold up, and if they have anything to. For example, the software should be able to provide access to functionality with fewer keystrokes and mouse clicks. Modern typed languages relax typing requirements by using type inference. Especially in recent times, weve started to see urban metaphors appear in web design, using familiar elements like a bookshelf or a wall within a design. You might say, metaphorically, they are done to death. Examples might be microsoft kinect to develop a nontraditional application based on the use of gestures and spoken commands, or raspberry pi for some custom application idea. A short guide to writing software requirements pj srivastava. Computer hardware is the collection of physical parts of a computer system.

Software requirements specifications, also known as srs, is the term used to describe an indepth description of a software product to be developed. The nps node failure detection in the environment, which may be a combination of existing eventmgr reporting, state transition events, hardware notification events, and userdeveloped solutions. A directed association between related requirements allowing to analyze. Then we will take a software system requirements specification example to better understand the concept. Hardware is associated with the physical parts of the computer, while the software is referred to as apps or programs. Much of stephensons essay talks about metaphors for different operating systems, and how their creators get consumers to buy into those metaphors, then goes on to talk about how the metaphors affect the companies and their customers. Feb 04, 2011 gareths advice is to use a number of metaphors collectively so that the different metaphors can complement each other. Hardware must have failsafe temperature trip point that shuts down the system or prevents boot. In a computer brain the hardware at least as far as we know with our limited. What are good examples of metaphors in software design.

When faced with the prospect of writing requirements, many. Software engineering user interface design geeksforgeeks. How to write the system requirements specification for. Although each company operates different, hardware and software will be used in similar form. Metaphors serve a pedagogical role for both users and creators of software. Whenever you purchase software or hardware for your computer, you should first make sure your computer supports the system requirements. What this lecture is about im going to talk today about metaphors. You can use metaphor brainstorming to explore ideas for the conceptual model for your product, to uncover missing requirements, generate visual metaphors for interface icons, or generate alternative design solutions. They can also spice up prose fiction, too, by conveying abstract ideas in concrete language. We contend that computer science metaphors are paradigm examples of the.

Hardware and software maintenance policy overview maintenance of hardware and software assets is part of a comprehensive management process to minimize disruptions, optimize costs, provide asset stewardship, and bring best practice to the organization. In simple words, srs document is a manual of a project provided it is prepared before you kickstart a projectapplication. What the heck is the real difference between software and hardware. Sometimes software standards are controlled by private corporations the windows gui interface is owned by microsoft. I believe one main problem is, that we are lacking a common, shared metaphor for metaphors.

So the role of metaphor in computer science is intimately. How popular are the terms software and hardware outside. A cdrom, computer display monitor, printer, and video card are all examples of computer hardware. We argue that computer science metaphors provide a conceptual framework in which to. While these things can certainly be misused, they are also a useful way of viewing a design from different perspectives to gain fresh insight. In the analysis part, the tasks that the user performs to establish the goals of the system are identified, described and elaborated. Difference between hardware and software hardware is the things that you can touch. This presentation is from a tutorial taught at several of the early agile conferences, and includes material supporting the exercises. The main purpose of this document is to provide new reqview users a working example of a software requirements specification srs based on isoiecieee 29148. Whether it be a monitor, tablet, or smartphone, it is hardware.

Metaphors in software development are ubiquitous, as in the. Without any hardware, your computer would not exist, and software could not be used. Metaphors for cyber security evolution of computing. Software requirements specification document with example. An excellent way to improve your creative writing is through the judicious use of metaphors. Hardware is many times also referred to as the machinery of the computer. Everybody here has heard and used the word metaphor plenty in the course of your educational experience and the amount of educational experience in this room is pretty staggering, so that makes lots of uses of the word. Software requirements specification restaurant menu. War on metaphors a metametaphor metaphors are everywhere.