This is not a book that tells you what you should or shouldn’t do! So, in the immortal words of Douglas Adams (www.douglasadams.com): “Don’t Panic!” Yes, it is a book on standards, but the standards are not presented as a set of rules; rather, they are presented and explained as a catalog of standard practices that are commonplace in the development community. My job is to bring them to your attention, and it’s your choice whether you use them. Generally, there are two categories of standards: internal and external. Internal standards are those standards that are in-house standards, whereas external standards are standards that are used between organizations to standardize a selection of industry practices (e.g., IEEE-1016 documentation for software design or IEEE-830 software requirements standard). There are two leading organizations that develop external standards relevant to architects and developers: IEEE and W3C. Whereas IEEE focuses on standards for a wide range of ind- tries, including information technology, W3C has a sharper focus on Internet technology. ?Note IEEE-SA is an acronym for Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association. The association is the leading developer of international standards for a wide range of industries: inf- mation technology, telecommunication, biomedical and health care, and power and energy, for example. It offers a subscription service to access the standards; you can check out their website at www.ieee.org.
