An Executable Literate Document (ELD) for Application System Development

Abstract

Formal software development relies upon software requirement specifications (SRS) to translate customer requirements to final products. Literate documents are responsible for a communication medium among readers in different development phases. However, issues of document inaccuracy and inconsistency are crucial problems. This paper provides some perspectives of how SRS utilized executable literate document (ELD) can be directly linked in software development process to improve throughput, reduce iteration, and avoid uncertainty. The idea of this study divides application system into two parts, ELD and necessary programming code. ELD is an XML-based document that contains business rules retrieved from original application software system. Since ELD is human readable document, user can via change ELD to easily modify application system. Therefore, ELD is not only software requirement document but also a semi-application.