top-down design

[′täp ¦dau̇n di′zīn]

(industrial engineering)

A design methodology that proceeds from the highest level to the lowest and from the general to the particular, and that provides a formal mechanism for breaking complex process designs into functional descriptions, reviewing progress, and allowing modifications.

top-down design

(programming)

(Or "stepwise refinement"). The software design technique which aims to describe functionality at a very high level, then partition it repeatedly into more detailed levels one level at a time until the detail is sufficient to allow coding. This approach to software design probably originated at IBM, and grew out of structured programming practices.

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

top-down design

A design technique that starts with the highest level of an idea and works its way down to the lowest level of detail. See top-down programming.

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Talk2Me operations are streamlined through an effective top-down design. We have 3 Team leads in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi.

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Two types of methods of design are usually adopted which are: i) Bottom-up method and second one is ii) Top-down design. We can also use the combination of the both methods.

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In contrast, top-down design strategies encourage systematic approaches in which learners plan or choose a structure and then deconstruct it into modules.

Effects of thinking style on design strategies: using bridge construction simulation programs

The left-hand side of the Vee captured the top-down design process; the right-hand side reflected the design implementation, integration, verification, validation, and transition activities described in the DAG.

Building on a legacy: renewed focus on systems engineering in defense acquisition

Top-down design eases the fixture-handling process.

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Top-down design and stepwise refinement urged the programmer to set forth the broad outlines of a procedure first and only later fill in the details.

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The top-down design flows currently available still have weak spots that require extensive effort and orientation from the designers.

Multiradio yields challenges for mobile phones

In this paper, the author proposes a strategy to enforce students to use the top-down design approach to solve problems from early on by introducing the concept of functions right after the discussion of output statements and having students to start using simple functions to solve problems.

Introducing functions earlier to enforce programming design stage

"Unigraphics NX WAVE technology from UGS PLM solutions offers product design organizations a single-source, structured control mechanism for top-down design, even in light of upwardly spiraling product complexity, customization, and product variants."

The virtual world meets the factory

Top-down design approaches give database designers little guidance with transforming a conceptual model into an active object-oriented database schema.