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Letters
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Resuscitating Reci I thought you might be interested to know that I used your article “Resuscitating Reci” (Fall 1998) in my Computer Science 464/564 (“Software Development”) course at Bowling Green State University.
Nowadays requirements analysis and design would almost always precede the development of a software system. But this was not the case in the 1960s and 1970s. So by analogy I used what you described in your article: “... That’s because no plans for the building could be found. They pored through the university archives for clues — pictures or descriptions of its exterior details. In order to recreate working drawings and specifications for the renovation, they looked at black and white photos of the building in its early years. Under a magnifying glass they could take measurements and count. ... ... Next the architects took high-resolution photographs of the exterior of the building, and by taking precise measurements, reproduced Reci’s lost blueprints.” David W. Chilson, ’69
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I teach “reverse engineering” (or “back engineering”), which is the process of taking a software system (usually an old one from the 1960s or 1970s) for which there is no design document, no design specifications, etc. and working “backwards” to develop elements of design such as “data flow diagrams,” “structure charts,” etc.