Documenting quality attributes of software components

Quality attributes become much more important in today's component-based systems. A well-formed and easy-to-understand documentation on these quality attributes is necessary in component-based development. In this paper, we propose a Quality Attribute Specification (QAS) that utilizes the Trace Function Method (TFM). There are four parts to this specification: Quality Attribute Variables, Access Programs, Quality Attribute Variable Functions, and the Auxiliary Functions. Each of them addresses precise and needed details for developers. To demonstrate our approach, a case study regarding the design description is included. From our research, the three primary benefits that we attribute to using this specification are as follows: Firstly, it specifies what to measure, estimate, or calculate when such a request is proposed. Secondly, it stipulates the physical limitations of each quality attribute. Thirdly, it facilitates the description of qualitative attributes precisely.EI