Software Design focuses on the way internal modules or components of a system interact with each other so it is not the same thing as Software Architecture. This the “how” phase of the Software Development Life Cycle.
This process transforms the user requirements into a developer friendly understandable and specific format that the programmer(s) can later code and implement.
An SRS (Software Requirement Specification) document should be created to assess user requirements, and the design phase finds a solution to the problems planted during the requirement gathering phase.
Calling…
A mozaic with Apple products since 1998. (Best viewed large)
All photos courtesy by Apple
Made in Synthetik Studio Artist, Adobe Photoshop and Apple QuickTime Pro with custom scripts.
There are several design levels to be considered:
-Architectural Design: highest level of abstraction or a general blueprint.
-High-Level Design: a less abstracted view that focuses on how the components of a system can be implemented in modules.
-Detailed Design: Detailed designs of systems and subsystems that defines a logical structure for each module and the communication interfaces.
Some keys for good software design are:
-Modularization: Often used as a technique to divide a software system into many small segments called modules that should carry out independent tasks.
-Concurrency: Changing sequential execution into concurrent means splitting the software into independent modules that can be executed in parallel.
-Coupling: a measure for defining the level of inter-dependability between modules, for example: content, common, control, stamp and data.
-Cohesion: A measure for defining the intra-dependability of the elements of a module, for example: co-incidental, logical, temporal, procedural, etc.
Sources:
Difference between Software Architecture and Software Design
