Process for Specifying Software

Hello,

I am planning in developing an application for my final undergraduate
project and I am thinking of using Ruby On Rails to implement it.

But I need to follow a kind of process or bibliography that can describe
how to specify software development.

Does anybody knows any process that I can follow when programming Ruby
On Rails applications?

Thanks and regards,

Jeff.

Hello,

On 30 Mar 2007, at 23:23, Jeff wrote:

I am planning in developing an application for my final undergraduate
project and I am thinking of using Ruby On Rails to implement it.

But I need to follow a kind of process or bibliography that can
describe
how to specify software development.

Does anybody knows any process that I can follow when programming Ruby
On Rails applications?

As I am sure you know, there are many different processes for
software development. They all have different characteristics which
make some more suitable for any given application than others.

It sounds like the most important requirement for the process you
need is that it fulfils your examiner’s requirements. Some
processes, for example, are less formal than others and you don’t
want to choose one so informal that it doesn’t qualify from the point
of view of your examiners.

Rails allows quick and clean development thanks largely to the nature
of Ruby. So I suggest you choose a process which allows you to move
quickly – i.e. one with less formality or ceremony. So steer clear
of, say, the Rational Unified Process and towards one of the ones
falling under the Agile banner.

At the end of the day, different people will recommend different
processes. There’s no right or wrong answer. Personally I like
Getting Real[1] but it might not meet either your examiner’s
requirements or your tastes.

Hope that helps,
Andy S.

[1] http://gettingreal.37signals.com

In RoR you can use an Agile methodology to specify software:

http://www.agilemodeling.com/

Usually on the specification process you will have to use UML.

hope it helps

Andrew S. wrote:

Hello,

On 30 Mar 2007, at 23:23, Jeff wrote:

I am planning in developing an application for my final undergraduate
project and I am thinking of using Ruby On Rails to implement it.

But I need to follow a kind of process or bibliography that can
describe
how to specify software development.

Does anybody knows any process that I can follow when programming Ruby
On Rails applications?

As I am sure you know, there are many different processes for
software development. They all have different characteristics which
make some more suitable for any given application than others.

It sounds like the most important requirement for the process you
need is that it fulfils your examiner’s requirements. Some
processes, for example, are less formal than others and you don’t
want to choose one so informal that it doesn’t qualify from the point
of view of your examiners.

Rails allows quick and clean development thanks largely to the nature
of Ruby. So I suggest you choose a process which allows you to move
quickly – i.e. one with less formality or ceremony. So steer clear
of, say, the Rational Unified Process and towards one of the ones
falling under the Agile banner.

At the end of the day, different people will recommend different
processes. There’s no right or wrong answer. Personally I like
Getting Real[1] but it might not meet either your examiner’s
requirements or your tastes.

Hope that helps,
Andy S.

[1] http://gettingreal.37signals.com

Hi Andrew and Jose,

Thanks for your replies and help! I will take a look in both links and
follow one of those methodologies.

Talking about UML: as RoR uses the MVC can you recommend me a good
reference book which shows how to model MVC systems using UML?

Thanks in advance,
Jeff.

Jose P. wrote:

In RoR you can use an Agile methodology to specify software:

http://www.agilemodeling.com/

Usually on the specification process you will have to use UML.

hope it helps

Andrew S. wrote:

Hello,

On 30 Mar 2007, at 23:23, Jeff wrote:

I am planning in developing an application for my final undergraduate
project and I am thinking of using Ruby On Rails to implement it.

But I need to follow a kind of process or bibliography that can
describe
how to specify software development.

Does anybody knows any process that I can follow when programming Ruby
On Rails applications?

As I am sure you know, there are many different processes for
software development. They all have different characteristics which
make some more suitable for any given application than others.

It sounds like the most important requirement for the process you
need is that it fulfils your examiner’s requirements. Some
processes, for example, are less formal than others and you don’t
want to choose one so informal that it doesn’t qualify from the point
of view of your examiners.

Rails allows quick and clean development thanks largely to the nature
of Ruby. So I suggest you choose a process which allows you to move
quickly – i.e. one with less formality or ceremony. So steer clear
of, say, the Rational Unified Process and towards one of the ones
falling under the Agile banner.

At the end of the day, different people will recommend different
processes. There’s no right or wrong answer. Personally I like
Getting Real[1] but it might not meet either your examiner’s
requirements or your tastes.

Hope that helps,
Andy S.

[1] http://gettingreal.37signals.com

On 4/7/07, Jeff [email protected] wrote:

Jeff.
Well Rails was designed to be usable in an agile context. From some war
stories I have heard, you kill off any benefits to Rails (productivity)
by not
using it in an Agile context.

As for using UML to sketch MVC systems for Rails. I would backpedal on
that. It would take you longer to model them than it would take to
implement
them in Rails, and then you can use Rails visualisation tools to extract
a
UML/visual representation from your code. As a side effect, you also
have
the entire skeleton of your app done.