A document driven methodology for developing a high quality Parallel Mesh Generation Toolbox

  • Authors:

  • S. Smith;W. Yu

  • Affiliations:

  • Computing and Software Department, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4L7;Computing and Software Department, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4L7

  • Venue:
  • Advances in Engineering Software
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

This paper motivates the value of using a document driven methodology to improve the quality of scientific computing applications by illustrating the design and documentation of a Parallel Mesh Generation Toolbox (PMGT). Formal mathematical specification is promoted for writing unambiguous requirements, which can be used to judge the correctness and thus the reliability of PMGT. Mathematics is also shown to improve understandability, reusability and maintainability through modelling software modules as finite state machines. The proposed methodology includes explicit traceability between requirements, design, implementation and test cases. Traceability improves the verification of completeness and consistency and it allows for proper change management. To improve the reliability of PMGT, given the challenge that the correct solution is unknown a priori, an automated testing approach is adopted to verify the known properties of a correct solution, such as conformality and counterclockwise vertex numbering.