Reference versus text book
Rating:
5 / 5
I have been using this book for the past 6 years at the Naval Postgraduate school to teach Systems Engineers about the HIPO formal methodology methods. It is the best available. It is strange that the students all give it a low rating as a textbook; but later after graduating call or E-mail that it is the best reference book they have.A lot of programs that were in trouble of failure have been saved by Managers and Systems Engineers who had the guts to apply HP when the chips were down. Cheers Orin
A Place for Everything and Everything in its Place
Rating:
4 / 5
This is a definitive book for complex system specification methods. The true test of these methods is evidenced in their staying power. I had the opportunity back in the early '90s to learn these methods from the late Imtiaz Pirbhai himself--their beauty is in their relative simplicity. The strength of the methods can be attributed to clear and concise "language" and nomenclature. The key to specifing and designing a "good system" is the ability to unambiguously express and communicate a model of the system. These tools provide just that. Two views of the system, the "Requirements Model" and the "Architecture Model" are the perfect complement to the iterative nature of complex system development. The book stops short of making the transition from software requirements to a software architecture. However, the methods, if applied correctly, can set the stage for either a "structured" or "object-oriented" software architecture approach. One weakness, based on experience, is applying the "User Interface" component of the "Architecture Template" to Graphical User Interface (GUI)-intensive systems, which tend to put the user in the center of the system's universe, rather than on the periphery.
A Real Time Software Design Bible ...
Rating:
5 / 5
This book is a magificient one. I have used this book throught my professional career at GM, UTC and DDC. It is precise and clear. It has good examples like Cruise control. The diagrams are clear. Fellow Michigander Mr. Hatley and Mr. Pirbhai have given an wonderful treatment. This bok is the basis for infamous Espirit consulting courses on Structured Analysis and Structured Design. What more can you ask for. Go for it. I wish they could come up with a newer edition. If they cannot then I will. (Mr. Pirbhai is no more).
|