Property-part diagrams: A dependence notation for software systems

• Main Authors: Jackson, Daniel (Contributor), Kang, Eunsuk (Contributor)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2011-02-25T16:43:49Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

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Some limitations of traditional dependence diagrams are explained, and a new notation that overcomes them is proposed. The key idea is to include in the diagram not only the parts of a system but also the properties that are assigned to them; dependences are shown as a relation not from parts to parts, but between properties and the parts (or other properties) that support them. The diagram can be used to evaluate modularization in a design, to assess how successfully critical properties are confined to a limited subset of parts, and to structure a dependability argument.