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Abstract : |
The use of relations, represented as tables, for documenting the requirements and behaviour of software is motivated and explained. A formal model of tabular expressions, defining the meaning of a large class of tabular forms, is presented. Finally, we discuss the transformation of tabular expressions from one form to another, and illustrate some useful transformations. 1 A Relational model of documentation More than 30 years ago, managers of large software projects began to understand the importance of having precise documentation for software products. The industry was experiencing the frustration of trying to get software to work; most of the many ?bugs ? that delayed completion and led to unreliable products were caused by misunderstandings that would have been alleviated by better documentation. Since that time, hundreds of ?standards ? have been proposed; each was intended to improve the consistency, precision and completeness of natural language documents. In spite of these efforts, documentation is still inadequate. Because of the vagueness and imprecision of natural languages, even the best software documentation is unclear. Because informal documentation cannot be analysed systematically, it is usually inconsistent and, |
