3 Component Discovery, Abstractly🔗

9 September 2024

3.1 What is a Software System, Introduction🔗

• [5-10min] from basics of high school coding to

  • code, scripts, high school "stuff"

  • programs: designed, tested, "purposed" (basic internal docs)

  • application programs: + external documentation (‘man ls‘)

  • many interacting components: each component is at least a "program"

    • possibly static connections (‘require‘)

    • possibly dynamically loaded (‘dynamic-require‘)

3.2 Running a Software System🔗

• [5-10min] when people run such things, what happens

  • configure;

  • start,

  • steady state,

  • shut down (gracefully in all cases)

  • re-configure

• [5-10min] examples:

  • IDE

  • web browser

  • web server

  • web server-browser system

  • operating system

3.3 Developing a Complete System🔗

• [30-40min] what we do here, abstractly

  • spiral analysis of potential system and its context; determine boundary

  • stimuli & responses; boundary crossings information -> data, data -> information -> knowledge

  • use cases: trace stimuli to responses; identify sw components

  • classify components and stimuli-response chains into "aspects"; rank them

  • create dependency graph for ranked components; identify minimal kernel

  • make a plan: start with kernel; iteratively refine and expand prototype

Total: [45-70 mins]

3.4 If you’re Ben: 🔗

you will have left-over time and you want to illustrate the abstract process:

• A Sample Project

• **BUT** minus the "construction plan" section, which is their homework as of Wednesday morning

I prefer to do this _after_ Tuesday, which is when we release the first milestone and they need to understand "the plan".