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From: mark@mimsy.UUCP (Mark Weiser)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Architect's Trap
Message-ID: <5724@mimsy.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 9-Mar-87 18:56:48 EST
Article-I.D.: mimsy.5724
Posted: Mon Mar  9 18:56:48 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 10-Mar-87 06:43:20 EST
References: <1400@ncr-sd.SanDiego.NCR.COM> <101200003@datacube>
Reply-To: mark@mimsy.UUCP (Mark Weiser)
Organization: PRISM Group, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
Lines: 19

In article <101200003@datacube> dje@datacube.UUCP writes:
>"The Mythical Man-Month" (author forgotten) 

Fred Brooks, now at U. of N.C. at Chapel Hill.

>...outlines  the  design  of  the  IBM  360  OS.  The re-design widely
>missed all goals due to 'second system syndrome'.  
>The author's solution:  Design it right the first  time.   Then go on
>to new product.  

The conclusion I remember from the book is a bit different: don't
trust anyone building something for the first, or even second time.
Look for the greater-than-two-timers.  And if you do have to do something
for the first time, prototype, so the critical parts of the final version
really aren't your first.
-mark
-- 
Spoken: Mark Weiser 	ARPA:	mark@mimsy.umd.edu	Phone: +1-301-454-7817
After May 1, 1987: weiser@xerox.com"