design

process The approach that engineering (and some other)

disciplines use to specify how to create or do something. A

successful design must satisfies a (perhaps informal)

functional specification (do what it was designed to do);

conforms to the limitations of the target medium (it is

possible to implement); meets implicit or explicit

requirements on performance and resource usage (it is

efficient enough).

A design may also have to satisfy restrictions on the design

process itself, such as its length or cost, or the tools

available for doing the design.

In the software life-cycle, design follows requirementsanalysis and is followed by implementation.

["Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with Applications", 2nd

ed., Grady Booch].

(1996-12-08)