From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,LOTS_OF_MONEY, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 1073c2,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid1073c2,public X-Google-Thread: fdb77,c9f2b97a84c48976 X-Google-Attributes: gidfdb77,public X-Google-Thread: 101deb,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid101deb,public X-Google-Thread: 10a146,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid10a146,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-06-30 17:50:20 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!paloalto-snf1.gtei.net!crtntx1-snh1.gtei.net!lsanca1-snf1!news.gtei.net!newsfeed2.earthlink.net!newsfeed.earthlink.net!news.mindspring.net!not-for-mail From: Lao Xiao Hai Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.java.programmer,comp.lang.pl1,comp.lang.vrml,comp.lang.java.advocacy Subject: Re: Market pressures for more reliable software Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 17:50:48 -0700 Organization: AdaWorks Software Engineering Message-ID: <3B3E73E8.F9C36524@ix.netcom.com> References: <9gsvr7$7ho$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <9folnd$1t8$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3B1FE1FE.B49AE27F@noaa.gov> <9fotpi$4k6$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3b24dc21$1@news.tce.com> <3B25D5FB.15C9B240@dresdner-bank.com> <9g5as6$hbq$1@magnum.mmm.com> <9g5ipg$roq$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <9g614i$at4$1@magnum.mmm.com> <9g7r02$mni$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3b366a2b$6$fuzhry$mr2ice@va.news.verio.net> <9h7guv$pt1$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3B3879CE.AC550F8E@acm.org> Reply-To: richard@adaworks.com NNTP-Posting-Host: 9e.fc.cc.82 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Server-Date: 1 Jul 2001 00:49:47 GMT X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (Win98; I) X-Accept-Language: en Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:9287 comp.lang.java.programmer:79816 comp.lang.pl1:1178 comp.lang.vrml:3962 comp.lang.java.advocacy:22408 Date: 2001-07-01T00:49:47+00:00 List-Id: "Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz" wrote: > ENIAC was before my time, but I'd agree that development was probably > centralized in those days. What is in dispute is whether development was > centralized in the years or decades immediately preceding the PC. But > distributed development occurred even when the computer was centralized, even > before the 7090. Perhaps. But, for most organizations, emphasis on the word most, computing resources within an organization was under the centralized managment of one central authority. Moreover, most of the computing was located in one place. It is true that some very large corporations had computers distributed across their divisions, but that was a luxury not affordable by most of industry. This centralization, during the 70's and through the mid-80's even extended to collections of companies. Ever hear of a service bureau. In service bureaus we centralized the computing for vertical markets as well as for such things as payroll, general accounting, and other business applications. There was very little distributed development before the advent of, first the minicomputer, and later the microcomputer. Networks were still a mystery for most people. Programmers were busy grinding out programs in COBOL. Compilers needed large memory spaces and operating systems and these were hosted on million dollar plus machines, making it too expensive to distribute them all over the place. The exceptions were the Fords, Chryslers, and other industrial giants with money to burn. I spent a lot of years consulting to, developing software for, and cleaning up after these centralized computing facilities. Things are a lot more distributed now. Frankly, as I look at the quality of some of the software, I am not sure that can be classified as progress. Richard Riehle