Computer Aided Software Engineering

A systematic computer-aided approach provides a versatile setting for the control engineer to overcome the complications of controller design for highly nonlinear systems. Computer-aided Nonlinear Control System Design provides such an approach based on the use of describing functions. The text deals with a large class of nonlinear systems without restrictions on the system order, the number of inputs and/or outputs or the number, type or arrangement of nonlinear terms. The strongly software-oriented methods detailed facilitate fulfillment of tight performance requirements and help the designer to think in purely nonlinear terms, avoiding the expedient of linearization which can impose substantial and unrealistic model limitations and drive up the cost of the final product.

Non-Functional Requirements in Software Engineering presents a systematic and pragmatic approach to `building quality into' software systems. Systems must exhibit software quality attributes, such as accuracy, performance, security and modifiability. However, such non-functional requirements (NFRs) are difficult to address in many projects, even though there are many techniques to meet functional requirements in order to provide desired functionality. This is particularly true since the NFRs for each system typically interact with each other, have a broad impact on the system and may be subjective.

This book is intended for engineers, computer scientists, managers and all those concerned with computer graphics, computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacture. While it is primarily intended for students, lecturers and teachers, it will also appeal to those practising in industry. Its emphasis on applications will make it easier for those not currently concerned with computers to under­ stand the basic concepts of computer-aided graphics and design. In a previous text (Engineering Drawing and Computer Graphics), two of the authors introduced the basic principles of engineering drawing and showed how these were related to the fundamentals of computer graphics.

A new discipline is said to attain maturity when the subject matter takes the shape of a textbook. Several textbooks later, the discipline tends to acquire a firm place in the curriculum for teaching and learning. Computer Aided Engineering Design (CAED), barely three decades old, is interdisciplinary in nature whose boundaries are still expanding.