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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Denis Besnard, Anthony Lawrie
Design is a complex activity that can be analysed from a wide variety of perspectives. This paper attempts to get into the details of this particular problem solving process, taking into account psychological arguments. We characterise some of the phases involved in the design process, namely the constraints identification, the optimisation of solution space and the reuse process. We highlight a three-dimensional framework of how the constraints identification impacts on the solution space which, in turn, determines the range of the components that will be eligible for reuse. We discuss this argument through examples from both inside and outside the software engineering field. We then consider how our conception can describe successful designs and conclude by briefly looking at reuse as a general design policy.
Author(s): Besnard D, Lawrie AT
Publication type: Report
Publication status: Published
Series Title: Department of Computing Science Technical Report Series
Year: 2001
Pages: 14
Print publication date: 01/01/2001
Source Publication Date: 2001
Report Number: 745
Institution: Department of Computing Science, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
Place Published: Newcastle upon Tyne
URL: http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/publications/trs/papers/745.pdf
