1. design is the solution to a problem

2. the verb and the noun

3. blueprint for a solution

4. two levels of design

   1. systems or top-level design

      1. outside the box

      2. structural

   2. detailed or logical or low-level design

      1. inside the box

      2. algorithmic

5. design principles

   1. solving the problem

   2. balancing trade-offs in the solution

   3. criteria

      1. correctness - the solution solves the problem

      2. efficiency - resource use

      3. simplicity

6. design methodologies or techniques - systematic approaches to design

   1. function oriented or object oriented

   2. divide and conquer

      1. subdivision into manigable modules

      2. inter-module communication

      3. modifiable and independnet modules

      4. whole-part hierarchies

   3. abstractions

      1. detal management

      2. levels of abstraction

      3. implementation details

      4. functional abstraction

      5. data abstraction

This page last modified on 14 February 2000.