| What Makes Software So Hard |
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In his book, "Dreaming In Code," Salon founding editor Scott Rosenberg examines the persistence of a dysfunctional software development culture, using the trials and travails of the Open Source Applications Foundation's initiative to build Chandler, an improved personal information manager, as an example.
Rosenberg says missed deadlines, postponements, and other problems are par for the course in the development of nearly all software systems, and unlike classic engineering, there is little analysis of past mistakes. He agrees with the 1975 text by Frederick Brooks, "The Mythical Man-Month," that throwing more programmers at a software project can become a hindrance. Rosenberg believes the difficulty of software development lies in the clash between industry's philosophy of pushing for exponential development and the linear pace of human experience and creativity. "One reason the whole engineering approach has proven so difficult for the software field is also one of the unique things about software: Once a particular problem is solved, it's almost infinitely cheaper to use the existing solution," the author observes. Rosenberg dismisses the idea that a "physics of software" is likely or possible, but says developers are loath to accept this fact. According to him, a combination of cultural and managerial difficulties contribute to many problems in major projects. Rosenberg thinks it makes more sense for developers to follow an iterative release-test-improve strategy through techniques such as agile programming instead of attempting to make a huge, all-or-nothing leap toward the project's ultimate goal. Click Here to View Full Article |
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