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From: koehnema@ENUXHA.EAS.ASU.EDU (Harry Koehnemann)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Overengineering Software
Message-ID: <9104302306.AA02217@enuxha.eas.asu.edu>
Date: 30 Apr 91 23:06:20 GMT
References: <1828@qusunita.queensu.CA> <482@data.UUCP>
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: koehnema@enuxha.eas.asu.edu (Harry Koehnemann)
Organization: Arizona State University
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In article <482@data.UUCP> kend@data.UUCP (Ken Dickey) writes:
>skill@qucis.queensu.CA (David Skillicorn) writes:
>
>
>>... Software is not continuous ...
>
>Neither is the strength of materials.  Classical example: a large
>number of small dams have been built in this country with wood.  For a
>large dam (e.g. Hoover), you don't add more wood.  The scale requires
>the use of different materials.

It's not that you couldn't though, right?  It's is probably some
exponential function for the amount of wood needed per dam size.
Give me some national forest and a saw and I'll build you Hoover
Dam (and about 100 years).  It's just probably cheaper to use
another material.  Unfortunately, in the software industry,
choices like these are not available, so we end up building
all our dams out of wood (more like toothpicks).

Harry Koehnemann
koehnema@enuxha.eas.asu.edu