How to read DO-178B - the easy way

DO-178B is not exactly a tome but it is not a fun read, in any sense of the word. Unless you follow my way, that is.

The best way to approach DO178B is from the reverse of the document!

Your first stop should however be figure 1-1. And by that I mean STOP. Don't go further. Not yet, at least. Figure 1-1 gives you the document overview, which is a nice thing to have if you want to show off your knowledge of DO-178B. ("If you want to read about Certification Liaison, you need to refer Section 9" OR "Software Verification is an Integral Process. Do you know why?", etc.).

That done, please go straight to Page 67 (Annex A). Every thing one requires to know about DO-178B resides in these Tables. The Tables painstakingly list out the objectives of every process of DO-178B. These Tables are also an excellent source to build your checklists. Take an objective; determine your methodology (DO-178B does not subscribe to any method, beware) and draw up the most comprehensive checklist, guaranteed to impress the toughest of Software Quality Assurance persons.

Now go through each objective. This is easy reading. Most importantly, each objective is cross-referred to a paragraph in the main text of the document. If you like an objective, or wish to know more about it, go to the referred paragraph number and try to understand the contents.

The Tables also list the documents that will eventually contain the evidence of having met the objectives listed. So, at one glance, one is aware of all the deliverables of a phase.

So you see, the Tables contain a wealth of information. And till now, we haven't even scratched the surface. But this is not a tutorial, right?

The second most interesting Section of DO-178B is the Glossary in Annex B. Every term is precisely defined. This Section alone is worth the cost of the document. At my company this Section is mandatory reading. And we return to this Section again and again to settle intellectual arguments!

Notice we are still languishing at the end of the document!

OK! Let's move to the front of the document. Next Stop: Figure 6-1. This figure beautifully brings out the concept of Requirements-Based Testing.

That's all to it. No, seriously, if you want to read DO-178B the fun way, this is it. But if you want to master it, it will take some doing. I never said you can master DO-178B in a day, did I?

Did you know?
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… that the "DO" in DO178B stands for DOcument. This is what I have come to learn. Can someone confirm this?

… that many of the companies listed under Appendix B no longer exist. (at least a Google Search does not throw up their names - if it does not exist in Google, it does not exist at all, right? :-)) Many of them may have merged with other companies.

Update:

I received a comment (with an incorrect e-mail id (I actually wanted to thank this person)) that indicated that the person has taken umbrage to the above post. As indicated in the post, this is an "easy read" technique that I follow. Thanks.

Comments

[Chuck Norris]

Hi,
That is nice to know about DO-178B. But I believe there is a new version coming up. Somtime back I ketp on hearing that Module testing would be elimated for Airborne software.
Do you think, DO-178B may get outdated in that case.

[Amitabh]

Thanks Chuck.
I recommend you visit http://www.embeddedtouch.com/et/client/050503841118.php?lg=en to know what to expect from DO-178C.

[Sophia]

Hi
The stuff you've jotted makes good reading. Try and continue ...

[André Ribeiro]

Hi, according to these crosstalk articles DO stands for Document Order. http://www.stsc.hill.af.mil/CrossTalk/2006/04/0604KorneckiZalewski.html, http://www.stsc.hill.af.mil/CrossTalk/2006/08/0608Hicks.pdf

[Amitabh]

Thanks André for the information. I had no idea that DO = Document Order.