Requiring CS1 students to write requirements specifications: a rationale, implementation suggestions, and a case study

Abstract

This paper offers arguments supporting the concept of requiring written requirements specifications for all programming assignments in the first Computer Science course. The term “requirements specifications” is used here to refer to a description of the functional interaction of a single computer program with its environment and the non-functional constraints placed on that interaction. The principle thrust of the arguments is that students are best served if they are introduced to program design only as an activity which naturally follows requirements specification. This concept must be reinforced in all classroom examples and by practical student exercises. By requiring the students to create requirements specifications, the instructor encourages them to view the software development effort, from the beginning, as the analysis and solution of a problem rather than as the generation of a computer program. They are similarly encouraged to realize that the valuable end product of the effort is not just a program, but a thorough description of the problem and solution. Guidelines for incorporating the concept into existing CS1 courses are given. They are reinforced by a description of how this has been done in a specific course.