Professional Writing in Computer Science

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A Computer Software Engineer develops software systems to be used by their clients, such as a website used to sell the client’s products. Although software engineers spend the majority of their time programming and testing the software, a key component to the success of a software engineer is the ability to write a thorough Software Requirement Specification (SRS). A SRS documents the requirements and dependencies needed for the software, prior to beginning any programming. Therefore, a Software Engineer must po The SRS is so important because engineers can have a wide scope of clients that they regularly work with. Audience A SRS documents the requirements and dependencies needed for the software, prior to beginning any programming. This document requires a two-way understanding that assures both the client and the engineer understand the needs and goals of the software. The first step in writing a SRS is understanding the client’s requirements, and then clearly documenting these requirements in terms the client can relate to. This is where correctly analyzing the client is very important on the engineer’s part because if the SRS is not right and the engineer did not understand the client, the program will not be what the client wants costing the company more time and money. Type of Writing and Communication According to the journal that was written by Lui et al., “correct understanding of the user’s requirements and appropriate design decisions almost always contribute considerably to the reliability of the software.” Appendix A shows not only the importance of the specification document, but also the importance that the specification document be reviewed and evolved several times before arriving at the final formal... ... middle of paper ... ...ware Requirements Specifications." IEEE Xplore. IEEE Computer Society, 1998. Web. 18 Nov. 2012.. LIU, SHAOYING, TETSUO TAMAI, and SHIN NAKAJIMA. "A Framework For Integrating Formal Specification, Review, And Testing To Enhance Software Reliability." International Journal Of Software Engineering & Knowledge Engineering 21.2 (2011): 259-288. Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 Nov. 2012. S. El-Kassas, et al. "Formal Analysis And Design For Engineering Security Automated Derivation Of Formal Software Security Specifications From Goal-Oriented Security Requirements." IET Software 4.2 (2010): 149-160. Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 Nov. 2012. Wan-kadir, and Pericles Loucopoulos. "Relating Evolving Business Rules to Software Design."Science Direct. Department of Computation and University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, July 2004. Web. 18 Nov. 2012.

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