Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!m.cs.uiuc.edu!marick
From: marick@m.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.object
Subject: Re: Overused metaphors - Software I
Message-ID: <77500049@m.cs.uiuc.edu>
Date: 9 Aug 90 18:06:00 GMT
References: <25993@bellcore.bellcore.com>
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Nf-ID: #R:bellcore.bellcore.com:25993:m.cs.uiuc.edu:77500049:000:843
Nf-From: m.cs.uiuc.edu!marick    Aug  9 13:06:00 1990


> Yet the largest number of
> problems in a software system seem to be traceable back to requirements and
> design flaws.

Just a quick note.  I surveyed 17 published descriptions of error data
from commercial/government projects.  The percentage of errors
attributable to requirements/design varied from 17% to 74%.  There are
all sorts of possible reasons for the variation, not the least of
which is classification error.  However, I suspect that the novelty of
the product has a lot to do with it.

Different circumstances require different tools.  OO will be more
appropriate in some cases than in others.  Ditto for rapid
prototyping.  Ditto for software ICs.  Ditto for different approaches
to the implementation of that idea.  It's a huge world out there, with
lots of room for niches and not much chance of a grand unifying approach.