software design

This article is about the activity between requirements and programming. For the broader meaning, see software development. Software design is the process by which an agent creates a specification of a software artifact, intended to accomplish goals, using a set of primitive components and subject to constraints. Software design may refer to either “all the activities involved in conceptualizing, framing, implementing, commissioning, and ultimately modifying complex systems” or “the activity following requirements specification and before programming, as … [in] a stylized software engineering process.” Software design usually involves problem solving and planning a software solution. This includes both low-level component and algorithm design and high-level, architecture design.