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Monday, May 31, 2004

Memes we live by

What makes us (software developers) think most other disciplines are "predictable, schedule-able, reliable, budget-able and robust"?

Posted by at

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Probably because most software developers have never actually done serious work in that discipline.

6/01/2004 11:34 AM
Anonymous said...

I'll bite ...

Because they *are*, as practiced (call it 'most of them'?) - at least the ones that critical path through the physical world.

Software development is engineering done without being effectively constrained by physics - since the platform abstracts the physical constraints (until it doesn't - eg, out of memory, etc.), (a) 'everyone' (rounding up) thinks its going to be easier, hence faster, than it is and (b) theres so many ways to the happy result (compared to the physical world) - including much less rigorous approaches than others - that the 'ilities' you mention (starting with predictability) are shot.

Otherwise...


ps - I'm anonymous cuz no time to read the T&C required by signup (really) - if you really care who I am just peep and I'll read 'em and finish (but I might argue that isn't the content the point, not the author?)

6/23/2004 12:45 AM

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About Me

Portland, Oregon, United States
I'm usually writing from my favorite location on the planet, the pacific northwest of the u.s. I write for myself only and unless otherwise specified my posts here should not be taken as representing an official position of my employer. Contact me at my gee mail account, username patrickdlogan.