Includes bibliography (p. 233-237) and index.

1. Background and case study Developing systems what is a system? Contents of the book Introduction to the Just a Line case study 2. Life cycles and development methods The system life cycle Development methods 3. The system requirements Background What are requirements? Stages in engineering the system requirements 4. Process modelling Modelling Data flow diagrams: Part 1 Data flow diagrams: Part 2 Process definitions 5. Data dictionary 6. Data modelling Principles of data modelling Entity-relationship modelling Normalisation 7. Event modelling Entity life histories State diagrams 8. Implementation in a relational database Types of implementation Databases Microsoft Access: a typical relational database Implementing simple entity-relationship diagrams in a database SQL (Structured Query Language) The user interface The Internet 9. Testing and handing over the system Testing Changeover to the new system Documentation The post-implementation review Maintenance 10. Management and professional issues What is project management? Planning Monitoring and controlling the project Software metrics Standards and quality assurance Legal and professional issues 11. CASE tools and alternative approaches to development CASE tools Prototyping Rapid Application Development Agile methods Open source development Object-oriented development Appendix A: Jay's newsagents case study Appendix B: Mike's bikes case study Answers Bibliography Glossary Index

The highly regarded textbook, Software Systems Development: A Gentle Introduction, provides a firm grounding in the principles of this topic in a clear, concise and lively form. The authors explain techniques and practices that are universally applicable to software systems development using a traditional structured approach, providing a solid background for aspiring software developers to build upon. This new edition has been thoroughly updated to develop coverage of topics such as SQL, agile methods and object-orientation. The authors' accessible, jargon-free approach to systems analysis and design is ideally suited to computer science students on an introductory course or to those from other disciplines with an interest in software development.