Should one use the legal "shall" in requirements documents and specification documents? [migrated]

Posted by Billy ONeal on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by Billy ONeal
Published on 2012-10-09T07:03:28Z Indexed on 2012/10/09 15:54 UTC
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Requirements

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At least in the US, "will" has replaced "shall" in most every context, with the notable exception of the "legal shall". Shall is used instead of will in legal documents to indicate a sense of obligation or requirement; e.g. "the defendant shall vacate the premises by October 16".

In software, requirements documents and specification documents serve close to the same purpose as the aforementioned legal documents; does this mean shall should be used in a similar fashion as a result?

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