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<h1>Further Reading

<br>(Section 1.7 of

<br><font color="#a52a2a">Programming Pearls</font>)

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This little exercise has only skimmed the fascinating topic

of specifying a program.

For a deep insight into this crucial activity,

see Michael Jackson's

<i>Software Requirements & Specifications</i>,

published by Addison-Wesley in 1995.

The tough topics in the book are presented as

a delightful collection of independent

but reinforcing little essays.

<p>

In the case study described in this column,

the programmer's main problem

was not so much technical as psychological:

he couldn't make progress because he was trying to solve

the wrong problem.

We finally solved his problem by breaking through

his conceptual block and solving an easier problem.

<i>Conceptual Blockbusting</i>

by James L. Adams

(the third edition was published by Perseus in 1986)

studies this kind of leap and is generally a pleasant prod

towards more creative thinking.

Although it was not written with programmers in mind,

many of its lessons are particularly appropriate for

programming problems.

Adams defines conceptual blocks as ``mental walls that block

the problem-solver from correctly perceiving a problem

or conceiving its solution'';

Problems

<a href="sec016.html#p10">10</a>,

<a href="sec016.html#p11">11</a>

and

<a href="sec016.html#p12">12</a>

encourage you to bust some.

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<FONT SIZE=1>Copyright &#169; 1999

<B>Lucent Technologies.</B> All rights reserved.</FONT>

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Thu 23 Sep 1999

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