Re: Re: Development: A Structured Problem Area?

Could it be -- that which is automatable in software development is already 
being automated?

Isn't the automobile assembly line analogous to recompiling the software for 
different platforms or different versions (i.e. standard, pro, etc.) and making 
copies?

Like you say Greg, maybe we just need to find or develop the right language.  
Perhaps the path to maximum automation with minimal error is ever more 
high-level languages.  I wonder if languages would be less intimidating to 
non-programmers if they used a more "successive approximation" approach to 
development since that is more how we think?


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Greg Jorgensen" <gregj-/VAaTXopHTZWk0Htik3J/w@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <pragprog-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2004 11:45 AM
Subject: [pragprog] Re: Development: A Structured Problem Area?


> --- "Derek Richardson" <Derek.Richardson-aF9gUBWsH8U@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> > The question, in my mind, is still whether there
> > is anything intrinsic to producing an implementation
> > from requirements that prevents a rule-based solution.
> > By intrinsic, I mean a property of the problem, not
> > a property of the agent solving the problem - arguments
> > that the best humans perform best intuitively, while true,
> > miss the point.
> 
> I am sure automated implementation from requirements is possible, 
> assuming the requirements can be reduced to complete, unambiguous 
> specifications (like the specs for cars rolling off automated 
> assembly lines). The implementation is not the hard part, it's the 
> specification. Depending on your experience as a programmer, you've 
> either done requirements/specification/implementation yourself all at 
> once, with little formality, or you've worked in shops that formally 
> separate these tasks and thereby make everything worse.
> 
> If the requirement is "make a customer database" I don't see much 
> hope for automation. If the requirements include a database schema 
> and a list of operations on that data, AND a defined implementation 
> platform, you have what most programmers start coding from, but not 
> enough for an automated solution. If you refine the requirements 
> enough you can automate the code production, but the requirements 
> themselves are at that point 1:1 equivalent to code, only in some 
> different language.
> 
> Perhaps the key is finding the right language for expressing 
> requirements. You may be interested in Intentional Programming as 
> described by Charles Simonyi; see 
> http://www.edge.org/digerati/simonyi/simonyi_p1.html.
> 
> Greg Jorgensen
> PDXperts LLC - Portland, Oregon USA
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  
> Yahoo! Groups Links
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
> 


------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
Yahoo! Domains - Claim yours for only $14.70
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Z1wmxD/DREIAA/yQLSAA/nhFolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 

 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pragprog/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     pragprog-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/