Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!ucsd!usc!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!uflorida!winnie!pd1!bill From: bill@pd1.ccd.harris.com (Bill Davis) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: Re: Information Systems is an Engineering Discipline Message-ID: <568@pd1.ccd.harris.com> Date: 4 Oct 89 16:11:22 GMT References: <1142@svx.SV.DG.COM> <34399@regenmeister.uucp> <5296@eos.UUCP> Reply-To: bill@pd1.ccd.harris.com (Bill Davis) Distribution: comp.edu Organization: Harris Controls and Composition Div., Melbourne Fla. Lines: 37 In article ejp@abvax.icd.ab.com (Ed Prochak) writes: > The problem has been that we don't build models. >There has been proposals that we build prototypes instead. >This may be okay as long as the prototype never leaves the >development lab. Prototypes have to be treated as throw-aways, >especially when they work! I agree with throwing away prototypes when appropriate. But, what makes a prototype something that should be thrown away if it is working and providing useful functions? Is it because it has "lower quality" or because it has bugs? I use lots of software with bugs and the variation in "quality" is large. But, this "buggy" software still provides useful functions to me when I avoid the bugs. > My personal opinion is that prototypes are not good enough, >and that models of software systems are possible. What the techniques >will be, I don't know. I agree that verbal descriptions cannot be good >enough. Pictures are better (data flow diagrams and the like) but they >aren't models, they can't be easily tested. There must be something >we can use. Suggestions? Opinions? If a prototype is done in a language that uses constructs at a high enough level, then why is it not a design description? I do not have access to such a language, but it does seem reasonable that such a language could exist. The code executed might be high overhead and not suitable for many purposes that require lower overhead. But, wouldn't this still be a "model" in that it functions "to scale" (where scale involves slower instead of smaller). -- * Truth comes as an enemy only to those who have lost the ability to welcome * * it as a friend. ** Be thankful for your troubles. If your job did not have * * problems, they could hire someone else to do your job at half the cost. * Bill Davis EMAIL: w.davis@ccd.harris.com (<-best) uunet!hcx1!pd1!bill