What is a system (in our case, mostly digital)?
A collection of components
- that perform a specific function
- judiciously chosen to meet some constraints
- cost, size, power consumption, safety
- communicates with its environment
- human interaction
- communication with other systems over wired/wireless networks
One person's system is another's component
- no universal categories of scope/size
- subsystems need to be encapsulated
How is it documented?
- how much does one have to know about the internals to use it?
- how easily can it be altered/re-configured? along what dimensions?