Re: Development: A Structured Problem Area?

On Tue, 2004-06-15 at 22:49, Derek Richardson wrote:
> If requirements are fully specified, is the rest of the work a
> "well-structured problem" that can be solved by rule-based methods?

Absolutely not.  Understanding the requirements is merely recognizing
the goal.  You still have to get there, which entails architecture,
design, and coding.  All mental-space activities, and as such dependent
on the individual and the interactions of the team.  Oops, there goes
any idea of linearity :-)

The only part of this miasma that should be repeatable is the build
process.  Given a set of inputs (source code files, XML droppings, etc.)
I would expect to see the same pile of bits generated for the computer
every time.

Not to be unduly negative (it is early and I haven't yet had coffee),
but we're trying to make repeatable that which cannot be repeatable, and
we are leaving to chance that which should be repeatable.  

Is it then any wonder the U.S. pukes $60 billion from the already-frail
economy on bugs in software each year?? (see the link at the top of our
website for the reference, since I know someone will ask :-)

/\ndy



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