A specification (often abbreviated as spec) is an explicit set of requirements to be satisfied by a material, product, or service.
2
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2answers
185 views
What Specifications should a Programmer Seek in a Computer Purchase ? Or, What Computer should I buy? [closed]
I wish to acquire a new computer that is specially designed for programming.
I would like to build it myself for the learning experience, but am willing to purchase it made as well.
Basically I ...
1
vote
1answer
145 views
“A line comment acts like a newline”
I'm reading the Go language specification. The section on comments states:
Line comments start with the character sequence // and stop at the end of the line. A line comment acts like a newline.
...
0
votes
1answer
149 views
Difference between functional and technical specification [duplicate]
I'm writing a specification for a project, and am struggling with separating functional specification from technical specification (see http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000035.html).
...
2
votes
1answer
123 views
Project implementation details in node.js
I am working as a software engineer turned team leader in a large software company. One of my areas of strength is node.js, and we are in the process of moving a lot of our services to separate ...
2
votes
5answers
296 views
bug: deviation from requirements vs deviation from expectations
I am not clear on this one. No matter the terminology, in the end the software fault/bug causes (according to a lot of sources):
Deviation from requirements
Devation from expectations
But if ...
0
votes
3answers
118 views
What's a good license for a specification? [closed]
I'm not sure if this is the best place for this, but as a part of a project we are createing a software specification which partners may choose to implement with whatever code they like. We may also ...
12
votes
8answers
536 views
How do you make a manager understand Agile?
I have a problem with a senior director who doesn't understand iterative development (much less Agile). He is insistent that our software design specification (SDS) be complete before any line of code ...
2
votes
2answers
1k views
System requirement specification vs functional one - separate docs?
A lot of sources (e.g. Wikipedia) mentiones System requirement specification and Functional specification as two separate entities.
However, Wiegers in his book writes:
The software requirements ...
4
votes
3answers
276 views
Customer Requirements Contains Equations that Cancel to Nothing
I have a project where the customer requirement specifies a report and contains mathematical equations for the contents of some of the columns on that report. One of the columns on this report is a ...
1
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2answers
224 views
Formalizing a requirements spec written in narrative English
I have a fairly technical functionality requirements spec, expressed in English prose, produced by my project manager. It is structured as a collection of UI tabs, where the requirements for each tab ...
58
votes
9answers
13k views
What is the difference between requirements and specifications?
I've been tasked with developing requirements and specifications for a project our group is starting.
I realized that I don't know the difference; a Google search just confused me more -- it seems ...
0
votes
2answers
303 views
Software Requirement Specification documentation by professionals
I just wanted to know what is the significance of SRS(Software Requirement Specification) in programming? and what are the techniques used in preparation of an SRS .. also who writes the SRS.. is it ...
4
votes
7answers
797 views
What do you call a customer's customer in a specification document, use case, or scenario?
My team and I develop software that our customers will use to interact with their customers. Additionally, we also eat our own dogfood and use the software ourselves to interact with our customers.
...
15
votes
6answers
942 views
Can you claim that your product is fit for purpose when it uses OSS software which does not guarantee it?
I am working on a product for a client that must be valid and fit for purpose.
It's built on a LAMP stack (PHP/Cake), so there's GPL, MIT, PHP, APACHE licenses:
"AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES ...
9
votes
1answer
130 views
How to avoid duplication between my issue tracker and the project specification documents?
I used to work for a professional consulting firm, and we worked under many different contract terms. When we could get a time & materials project, we ran it with SCRUM and tracked the backlog in ...
2
votes
2answers
93 views
Requirement specifications with annotations?
I'm curoious if there are any templates using annotations such as ambigous, needs update and so on. Industrial or Academic does not matter.
If there are, are there any way tools available that use ...
4
votes
3answers
361 views
agile / scrum and functional specs
I work in a small team of four devs, one domain expert and one manager. We are looking to move to using scrum to try and formalise our processes.
From what I understand of agile, it seems to be ...
11
votes
2answers
295 views
Need interpretation of section in C# specification
I am reading the C# specification. I could use clarification on a segment:
C# has a unified type system. All C# types, including primitive types
such as int and double, inherit from a single ...
6
votes
5answers
494 views
Wiki-like tool for writing specifications and documentation [closed]
I am looking for a wiki or wiki-like system for writing and managing specification and documentation for a software project.
I know there are lots of wiki-implementations available, but are there ...
6
votes
2answers
550 views
IEEE SRS documents: lightweight version when working with outside contractors?
Typically we follow an Agile development process that tends not to put an emphasis on writing requirements and technical documents that nobody will read. We tend to focus our limited manpower to ...
2
votes
2answers
587 views
Describing requirements in SRS - use cases?
I do not have the access to the IEEE standard and information on the net are contradictory. Can I capture user requirements in SRS using use cases? Or I should keep use cases separate as they are more ...
5
votes
5answers
567 views
Is a functional spec a part of the System requirement spec?
I wonder, sources like wikipedia or templates I found shows that Functional spec is a part of System requirement documents. I always thought that SRD is just overall decsription of the system, with ...
2
votes
1answer
156 views
How are “Json.org”-like specs graphs called and how can I generate them?
In http://www.json.org Douglas Crockford shows the specs of the JSON format in two interesting ways:
In the right side column he lists a text spec that looks like a YACC or LEX listing.
In the main ...
1
vote
2answers
75 views
standards for technical specificaton on software+hardware system [closed]
Are there any documented standards for technical specifications within the IT industry?
In theory, such a standard would be
successfully used in practice
deals with both software and hardware parts ...
1
vote
2answers
2k views
What is the difference between technical specifications and design documents?
What are technical specifications? Are they the same as design documents. If not, what is the difference and some examples?
0
votes
1answer
61 views
Is there such a thing as a specification-code framework?
I've been googling for a while and can't fathom why this doesn't exist yet.
By a specification-code workflow I mean a system which links code to it's specification. For example I could be looking at ...
4
votes
2answers
645 views
Custom HTML Tags: Are there any specifications stating a standard way to handle them?
It seems like for years they've just been given default styling and inline display. Is there a spec somewhere that has dictated this? I've looked over the RFC's but I'm not particularly good with ...
4
votes
1answer
108 views
General solution to solve different sports results in different languages
I currently have some code that checks if squash and tennis scores are valid, both in javascript and PHP.
This results in 4 blocks of code existing, 2 languages * 2 sports, which does not scale well ...
2
votes
2answers
234 views
What is the process of planning software called? Or what is the job title of someone who does software planning?
For example, let's say a non-technical person comes to me with their rough initial specification. And I sit down with them over a couple weeks and help them hone, formalize and better plan the ...
15
votes
9answers
665 views
How to convince a non-technical client that their application spec needs to be simplified?
Often times I am faced with the situation where a new client comes to me with an application that has literally 100s of unnecessary features and it is quite clear that things need to be drastically ...
17
votes
1answer
1k views
Java: “Heap pollution”
A "Heap Pollution" as in Non-Reifiable Types (The Java™ Tutorials > Learning the Java Language > Generics (Updated))
Why is it called that way?
-2
votes
3answers
337 views
Does *every* project benefit from written specifications? [closed]
I know this is holy war territory, so please read the question to the end before answering.
There are many cases where written specifications make a lot of sense. For example, if you're a contractor ...
1
vote
2answers
137 views
Estimating time for planning and technical design using Evidence Based Scheduling
I'm at the beginning of a development project in a large organization.
The Functional Requirements are currently being worked out and documented with our business stakeholders by our Enterprise ...
19
votes
7answers
784 views
How can a non-technical person learn to write a spec for small projects?
How can a non-technical person learn to write specs for small projects?
A friend of mine is trying to outsource some development on a statistics project.
In particular, he does a lot of work in ...
32
votes
5answers
7k views
Two HTML elements with same id attribute: How bad is it really?
Just browsing the google maps source code. In their header, they have 2 divs with id="search" one contains the other, and also has jstrack="1" attribute. There is a form separating them like so:
...
1
vote
1answer
431 views
ISTQB terminology question (Defect)
According to ISTQB (and few more sources + wiki ), a defect/bug is the actual cause of error in software, e.g. incorrect statement, logical or semantic error. The actual definion is: a flaw in the ...
0
votes
3answers
93 views
What do you need from a client to create a site
I am trying to figure out what a programmers needs from a client to create a website. This is a complicated database driven site. How should the information look? Should I layout the pages in ...
37
votes
4answers
4k views
Experience of Python's “PEP-302 New Import Hooks”
I'm one of the developers of Ruby (CRuby). We are working on Ruby 2.0 release (planned to release 2012/Feb).
Python has "PEP302: New Import Hooks" (2003):
This PEP proposes to add a new set of ...
4
votes
3answers
416 views
How To Document an Object Oriented Design in Text
For my next project, I'm looking to document my Object Oriented design in simple text before jumping the gun to code it up. I want to do this for two reasons.
I want to give proper thought to my ...
2
votes
1answer
103 views
When to skip solving the general problem and settling for the specific problem?
I've been working hard on trying to develop a general solution to my problem, but I cannot seem to formulate a proper algorithm for it, at least one that doesn't take a ton of inaccurate grunt work ...
-2
votes
3answers
727 views
Private Wiki vs Google Doc to share specifications for a team?
My team is debating whether to put the specifications on a private wiki or in a google document.
Can someone provide me with a summarized list of pros/cons for using a private wiki vs google docs ...
2
votes
1answer
147 views
Should I provide a language reference in addition to a formal specification for the programming language I am designing?
I am designing a programming language, and I would like to provide a complete documentation for it.
So far, I have planned to write the following documents:
An initial design outline, mostly as a ...
9
votes
5answers
315 views
Spec Writing Management
I simply cannot imagine writing software without a spec. No matter how sketchy or high level it is, spec is important to explain to the clueless programmers on what are the functionalities of the ...
2
votes
0answers
54 views
New website - best practice for requirements specs? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Extracting user requirements from a person who does not know how to express himself
As a hobby freelancer I'm new to this. I've never had a non-technical client before ...
3
votes
4answers
434 views
Who should be responsible for writing/updating design specifications in an agile team
I work as part of a scrum-like Agile team and a while ago, one thing we identified that the team should do is maintain good set of design documents for our code base. Because we are agile and do have ...
8
votes
6answers
468 views
Should we put the specification documents in source control system such as svn?
Today, One of my colleague and I have a debate about "Should we put the specification documents in source control system such as SVN?". In my opinion, It should be. Everything relate to developing ...
4
votes
1answer
167 views
What is an effective way to organize tasks for a new project?
Is there a practical solution to organizing the initial tasks for a new project?
To elaborate, imagine the features/stories/goals are laid out for a project. How might one go about organizing those ...
4
votes
1answer
57 views
Tooling and support for message format specifications
How do most companies define and manage message format specifications? Is it common for companies to create custom tools for creating and working with these documents?
At work we have a lot of ...
0
votes
3answers
269 views
How to write Requirements for a specific module
I am familiar with writing Software Requirements Specification, but not quite sure how to write the requirements for a specific module.
Let's say I need to develop a Reservation System and there ...
6
votes
4answers
286 views
I want to explain why the specification must not be changed during development period
I want to explain why the specification must not be changed during development period to the new planning department employee.
Is there any cool document that does this?
