Design rationale for software engineering: a survey

Abstract

The authors provide an introduction to design rationale and why it is important in software engineering. They look at the recent history of argumentation methods. They survey a number of the major systems developed for the support of design rationale, comparing their features and discussing their differences. They look at advantages and disadvantages of the various approaches to design rationale with special attention paid to how they can be used in the process software engineering. They conclude with a discussion of some open issues which are important for the inclusion of design rationale systems in the software engineering process.