Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!pdn!tscs!tct!chip From: chip@tct.uucp (Chip Salzenberg) Newsgroups: comp.object Subject: Re: Overused metaphors - Software ICs, etc. Message-ID: <26C2AFDA.178E@tct.uucp> Date: 10 Aug 90 13:00:09 GMT References: <5436@stpstn.UUCP> <4078@kim> <8190@fy.sei.cmu.edu> Organization: ComDev/TCT, Sarasota, FL Lines: 38 According to cpp@sei.cmu.edu (Charles Plinta): > Only when their products are quantified will the steps of defining the > process, monitoring the process, and refining the process make sense. > Processes are based on producing products to me it doesn't make sense > to define a process until I know what my product will look like. In what useful way can a software unit be quantitatively defined? Obviously, mere execution speed and memory usage aren't the point, since many "efficient" programs are maintenance nightmares. Physical objects are amenable to meaningful quantitative measurement. However, the larger issues of "elegance" and "maintainability" *cannot* be quantified, even for hardware, except in rough estimates. Remember that, for all intents and purposes, *EACH* piece of software is a one-time prototype. It's just that we make lots and lots of copies of them when we're done. Therefore, trying to make analogies with statistical values like MTBF is a futile exercise. >To advance, we need to reduce complexity. No argument here. >To advance, we need to strive for standard products. On its face, this goal seems unarguable. But I would disagree. Look at "standard" operating systems. By the act of defining the interface to an OS, you imply many things about its feature set, if only by omission. Yet competition will always drive vendors to add features to their operating systems. How can you have a "standard" OS interface when each OS has unique features? I think that the "standard" OS goal is a mirage, and will never be accomplished. I expect that the even more ambitious goal of industry-wide "standard products" will suffer the same fate. -- Chip Salzenberg at ComDev/TCT ,