Has Software Development Improved?

earnest_deyoung asks: "Twenty-five years ago Frederick Brooks laid out a vision of the future of software engineering in "No Silver Bullet." At the time he thought improvements in the process of software creation were most likely to come from object-oriented programming, of-the-shelf components, rapid prototyping, and cultivation of truly great designers. I've found postings on /. where people tout all sorts of design tools, from languages like Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, and Smalltalk to design aids and processes like UML and eXtreme Programming. I'm in a Computer Science degree program, and I keep wondering what "improvements" over the last quarter century have actually brought progress to the key issue: more quickly and more inexpensively developing software that's more reliable?"

Programming 25 years ago...

[vasqzr]

Computers don't boot into a ROM BASIC anymore.

WELCOME!

[Anonymous Coward]

Welcome to termpapers.slashdot.org!

Don't know about improvements....

[platos_beard]

but HTML and Perl have probably set us back 15-20 years.

The Silver Bullet

[mr_gerbik]

Coors Light. Its done wonders for my hacking skills. No wonder its called the Silver Bullet.

It is obvious who the leader is

[mao che minh]

It is obvious that Microsoft [usdoj.gov] has been the fantastic [pinds.com] driving force [newhouse.com] behind software innovation [itworld.com] over the past two decades [harvard.edu]. Their uncanny ability to feel out new markets and met the needs of their customers with cost [buy.com] effective, friendly [exchangeadmin.com] licensed [microsoft.com], quality software has forced all other developers [sun.com] to increase the quality [linux.com] of their [mandrake.com] products [redhat.com].

Re:"I'm in a Computer Science degree program"?????

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe you're the man for Tom Ridge.

He needs someone to solve serious problems [usatoday.com] his brand new Homeland Security Office has. There are, for instance, "...technical issues such as how to handle incompatible e-mail systems".

Got an assignment?

[pipsqueak]

> I'm in a Computer Science degree program, and I > keep wondering what "improvements" over the last > quarter century have actually brought progress to > the key issue: more quickly and more > inexpensively developing software that's more > reliable?" Sounds to me like someone got an assigment entitled "Discuss improvements to Software Engineering in the last 25 years" handed out at the end of their last lecture.

Re:Cheap, Good, Fast - Pick 2

[Gaijin42]

More importantly, don't tell the builder that you want a third story on the house, during the final walk-through, after the architect already left the job. Oh, and can you build it out of brick instead of wood too? I like the way brick looks.

Re:One day...

[lobsterGun]

Then he's going to patent the process and we're all going to say, "You can't patent that! It's too obvious."

So, they've caught up to...

[alispguru]

... Lisp development environments in 1980? If Visual Studio is an example of progress in the last 20 years, I'm impressed... NOT. Every one of those features was in every commercial Lisp development system of the era (Symbolics, LMI, Xerox), along with lots more. And, they live on in the ilisp [sourceforge.net] development environment, which gives them to many Common Lisp and Scheme implementations.

Yes, this is flamebait. Yes, I'm bitter and curmudgeonly. Perceptive of you to notice...

Re:Cheap, Good, Fast - Take all 3, if you're good

[Citizen of Earth]

If the aircraft industry can pull it off, so can the software industry. Read up on the Lockheed Skunk Works

Yeah, but an advanced tactical fighter aircraft is utterly trivial compared to the complexity of a software system.

OF COURSE IT HAS IMPROVED - Look at M$!

[AtomicX]

Of course software development has improved,

Security is at the heart of the Windows' design - It is so bloated, unstable and slow that no hacker ever gets a chance. Now you know why it got C2 certification.

Re:Cheap, Good, Fast - Pick 2

[Mydron]

everyone knows that its easier to build software than to build a bridge

Of course the 5000 or more years of experience we've had building bridges and buildings probably haven't hurt.

Re:Cheap, Good, Fast - Take all 3, if you're good

[Anonymous Coward]

Shit..
I got none of a degree but I can replace a simple iterative procedure with a bugged out recursive
one with the best comp-sci major son.
Only thing you cs guys got going for you is a case of the "must readmes" and an attitude.

Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions

[npsimons]

Q: Has software development improved?

A: No. First we had UNIX, then MacOS, then Windows. If that's not evidence for a decline in software quality, I don't know what is.

Re:Java and GPL - slower software, less incentives

[Viol8]

Any good C programmer would have done OOP in C (maybe without knowing it) before he switched to a "proper" OO language. Some aspects of OOP are easy in C , eg by using function pointers in structures to mimic methods and inheritence. The problem learning OOP languages is more due to their appalling design and syntax, I mean was Bjarn on drugs or something when he came up with the C++ template syntax?