Conceptual modelling: an essential pillar for quality software development

摘要

After many years of stressing the importance of the product and the process in software development, emphasis has now switched to the role played by the person. This paper, however, underlines the importance of understanding and modelling the problem, as this is a necessary, and often sufficient, condition for developing good quality software. Firstly, a formal definition is given of what the problem is and how it can be classified. In view of the confusion in the field of software development, where the word model is used very vaguely, an explanation is given of what modelling means, and a generally applicable form of modelling is briefly discussed. Finally, conceptualisation is defined, first declaratively and then procedurally, and a method of building conceptual models is presented which particularly stresses the information map as a visual overview of the entire process.