Software Design Fundamentals, Project Management System.
Course Description
Software design fundamentals are essential principles that guide the creation of efficient, maintainable, and scalable software systems. At the core of these fundamentals are modularity, which involves breaking down the software into smaller, manageable components, and abstraction, where complex implementation details are hidden to simplify interactions with the system. Encapsulation ensures that data and operations on data are bundled together, protecting them from external interference. Another key principle is the separation of concerns, which divides the system into distinct sections, such as user interfaces and business logic, to reduce complexity and improve code organization. Reusability encourages the development of components that can be used across multiple projects or parts of the system, saving time and ensuring consistency. Scalability and performance are also critical, ensuring that the software can handle increased workloads without compromising efficiency. Finally, maintainability focuses on writing code that is easy to modify and extend over time, facilitating bug fixes and future enhancements. Adhering to these software design principles helps in building systems that are not only functional but also flexible, allowing for long-term development and adaptation.
The design phase of software development deals with transforming the customer requirements as described in the SRS documents into a form implementable using a programming language. The software design process can be divided into the following three levels or phases of design:
- Interface Design
- Architectural Design
- Detailed Design
Elements of a System
- Architecture: This is the conceptual model that defines the structure, behavior, and views of a system. We can use flowcharts to represent and illustrate the architecture.
- Modules: These are components that handle one specific task in a system. A combination of the modules makes up the system.
- Components: This provides a particular function or group of related functions. They are made up of modules.
- Interfaces: This is the shared boundary across which the components of a system exchange information and relate.
- Data: This is the management of the information and data flow.
