- Definition:
Technical writing in software engineering means all type of written documents which involve software development. Whenever a software is implemented , there are several requirements ,scope , resources , rules and technologies which need to be saved in a document for future correspondence. These documents help in explaining the product or software functionalities , purpose and use for the required and targeted customers. In the field of software engineering , there are various types of documents which are used while development of a software .Following are the details and types of such documents:
- Type of documents used in software engineering:
1- Software requirement specification document:
The software requirement specification document is a detailed document which includes the user requirements , functional requirements , non functional requirements , use cases , database diagrams, system architectural diagrams and sequence diagrams . It also includes the resources , technologies and scope of the project so that after the development of project, the technical team can verify the functionalities against the requirements documented in the draft.
2- Design and architecture documentation:
The design and architectural documentation includes database diagrams , entity relationship diagrams and class diagrams which describe the complete architecture of the system going to be developed. This documentation helps in the better understanding of the modules and system.
3- Source code document:
The source code document includes the details about the source code which is used to develop the software. It includes the language and modules which is used to code the application. It can have various stages as initial code, developed code and final implemented software code. It helps to retract the bugs and flaws which can occur in the future.
4- Testing documentation:
The documentation of testing includes various things i.e. test cases , test scope and test strategies with tools being used for the purpose of testing. It helps to test the functionalities of a software and it tracks and verifies the working of software against its initial requirement document.
5- Software delivery documentation:
This document includes the final and complete details of the software. It consists of mixture of software requirement specification and architectural diagrams and final test cases with results of alpha testing.
- Conclusion:
Software engineering is not only about implementation of a software but it also includes the technical details which are an important part of development process of a software. Therefore careful measurements and strategies should be followed to develop such documents in order to get success.
