Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!steinmetz!daredevil!vita
From: vita@daredevil.steinmetz (Mark F. Vita)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: COCOMO software estimating model
Message-ID: <11716@steinmetz.ge.com>
Date: 3 Aug 88 13:11:20 GMT
References: <569@csdgwy.csd.unsw.oz> <685@ritcv.UUCP>
Sender: news@steinmetz.ge.com
Reply-To: desdemona!vita@steinmetz.UUCP (Mark F. Vita)
Organization: General Electric CRD, Schenectady, NY
Lines: 42

In article <685@ritcv.UUCP> ark@ritcv.UUCP (Alan Kaminsky) writes:
>> Perhaps someone on the net can tell me how I might be be able to buy a COCOMO
>> program.
>
>In my opinion, any specialized COCOMO program is a waste of money.  I advise
>you to spend your money on a general-purpose spreadsheet program, then take
>an hour or so to program the COCOMO model into it.  The resulting "COCOMO
>program" will be far more flexible than a specialized program, since you
>have all the capabilities of the spreadsheet at your disposal as well as
>the COCOMO model.

Yes, you have a point here.  The COCOMO model is not all that
complicated, and it would seem to make good fodder for a spreadsheet
program.  However, this could be said about nearly any numerical
model; i.e. "any specialized XXX program is a waste of money, as you
can just get a spreadsheet and program the XXX model into it."

The key issue, though, I think, is user interface.  In my opinion,
spreadsheets are only slightly above pencil and paper as far as
pleasantness of user interface is concerned.

This may be why, for example, "personal finance" programs for micros
sell so well.  It would be easy enough to come up with a spreadsheet
that would handle all this stuff, figure out your taxes, etc.
However, many people (especially ones who aren't spreadsheet junkies)
prefer dedicated, off-the-shelf programs that have generally have a
much nicer interface, some quick, convenient predefined graphs, nice
reporting features, etc.  For some, the convenience and ease-of-use of
such programs makes them worth the additional expense, despite the
fact that the underlying "model" isn't all that complex.

So I think it may be a bit of an overstatement to assert that "any
specialized COCOMO program is a waste of money."

>Alan Kaminsky
>Rochester Institute of Technology

----
Mark Vita                              ARPA: vita@ge-crd.ARPA
General Electric Company               UUCP: vita@desdemona.steinmetz.UUCP
Corporate R & D                              vita@desdemona.steinmetz.ge.com
Schenectady, NY                              desdemona!vita@steinmetz.UUCP