ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the fundamentals of interfaces and their specifications. These interfaces are the mechanism used by external entities to interact with a system. Interface specifications and designs contribute to the quality of the software solution. Interfaces provide users with the ability to interact with the system by enabling data inputs and receive outputs in an effective, efficient, and pleasing way. Interface specifications include details of what is required for the actor to interact with the system. The specifications describe the name, the primary actors, the use cases, and some more information of the user interfaces (UI). UI prototypes improve the usability of interfaces, eventually improving the quality of interface specifications. A technical prototype illustrates the technical feasibility of a system. An architectural prototype deals with the architectural feasibility of the system. The possible areas of a software solution where architectural prototyping plays an important part are middleware, architecture, database, and security. Like technical prototypes, architectural prototypes involve an executable.