Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!uwvax!uwslh!lishka
From: lishka@uwslh.UUCP (Fish-Guts)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Software Maintenance
Message-ID: <395@uwslh.UUCP>
Date: 23 Oct 88 17:12:59 GMT
References: <6338@pucc.Princeton.EDU> <16090005@hpsmtc1.HP.COM>
Reply-To: lishka@uwslh.UUCP (Fish-Guts)
Organization: U of Wisconsin-Madison, State Hygiene Lab
Lines: 42

In article <16090005@hpsmtc1.HP.COM> mwatkins@hpsmtc1.HP.COM (Marvin L. Watkins) writes:
>> EGNILGES@pucc.Princeton.EDU (Ed Nilges)
>>I am looking for network discussions on software maintenance.  Is
>----------
>I too would like to see such a discussion.

     Well, it looks like there is an interest in a discussion on
software maintenance.  Nobody else has started one yet, so I guess I
*could* get the ball rolling...(O.K.  I will ;-).

     One of the interesting developments in the software engineering
field as of late is NeXT's choice of bundling an object-oriented C
compiler (Objective C) and a nice group of reusable "objects" that
programmers can use.  NeXT makes the claim that objects are much
easier to utilize than the traditional function call interface that
most systems offer; a specific example that was given was that using
windows in a program is supposedly *much* easier than past windowing
programmer-interfaces (and as a programmer on the Amiga, I can see a
real need for this sort of thing!).

     Assuming that it is easier to use the NeXT objects, my question
is whether software maintenance with an object-oriented interface is
easier than software maintenance with a function-oriented interface?
IMHO, I would assume that it is, because objects (at least, very
strict objects) package an entire function in one programming "unit,"
whereas I feel that functions allow for too many interdependencies.
Therefore, it would be easier to maintain and upgrade an object
because changing a particular aspect of an object is not *as* likely
to break other objects.  [If anyone needs more clarification on the
last point, just ask.]

     Now, the above is pretty much conjecture on my part.  What do
you think?

					.oO Chris Oo.-- 
Christopher Lishka                 ...!{rutgers|ucbvax|...}!uwvax!uwslh!lishka
Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene                   lishka%uwslh.uucp@cs.wisc.edu
Immunology Section  (608)262-1617                            lishka@uwslh.uucp
				     ----
"...Just because someone is shy and gets straight A's does not mean they won't
put wads of gum in your arm pits."
                         - Lynda Barry, "Ernie Pook's Commeek: Gum of Mystery"