Re: How much requirement documentation up front?

From: Kevin Cline (kevin.cline_at_gmail.com)
Date: 10/26/04 

Date: 25 Oct 2004 21:38:42 -0700

"Daniel Parker" <danielaparker@spam?nothanks.windupbird.com> wrote in message news:<NlRed.340$rs5.73343@news20.bellglobal.com>...
> "H. S. Lahman" <h.lahman@verizon.net> wrote in message
> news:nqQed.1526$Xq3.386@trndny01...
> >
> > One needs to know what all the relevant requirements are before
> implementing
> > anything, even a method fragment.
> >
> Need to know...why can't you guess if you don't know? Early implementors of
> emerging standard specifications (e.g. XSLT 2) do that all the time.

Of course, but I think it's important to keep track of which thing you
are doing at any given time: defining requirements, or implementing
them. Otherwise you are likely to end up with a half-baked
implementation of half-baked requirements.

I have found that formalizing the next requirement as a test helps me
to keep track of what is already working and what I'm trying to do
now. The tests also fill in as minimal documentation of the
requirements.