Software engineering has its limits. No piece of software that has been build in the past is error-free or completely reliable. There is a need in the software engineering field for software development methods which would produce simple and reliable software.
This is a summary of a paper by Frederick Brooks, No Silver Bullet – Essence and Accident in Software Engineering.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Introduction
- Essential difficulties
- Complexity
- Conformity
- Changeability
- Invisibility
- Solved accidental difficulties
- High-level languages
- Time-sharing
- Hopes for the silver
- Ada language
- Object-oriented programming (OOP)
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Expert Systems
- Automatic programming
- Graphical programming
- Program verification
- Environments and tools
- Promising attacks on conceptual essence
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This article examines the challenges and limitations inherent in software engineering, arguing that there is no "silver bullet" solution to the inherent complexity of software development. It explores why traditional approaches to improving software productivity have failed and proposes alternative strategies for tackling the fundamental difficulties.
- The inherent complexity of software development
- The limitations of traditional software engineering approaches
- The role of accidental and essential difficulties in software development
- The potential of advanced technologies and techniques to address software challenges
- The importance of understanding customer needs and requirements
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
The introduction sets the stage by acknowledging the persistent challenges in software engineering, highlighting the need for effective development methods. The article then delves into the "essential difficulties" of software development, exploring the complexities of conformity, changeability, invisibility, and complexity. These inherent challenges, it argues, are not easily solved by technological advancements alone. The article then examines "solved accidental difficulties," such as the adoption of high-level languages and time-sharing, which have streamlined certain aspects of software development. Subsequently, the article explores "hopes for the silver bullet," examining the potential of advanced technologies like Ada, object-oriented programming, artificial intelligence, expert systems, automatic programming, graphical programming, and program verification to address software challenges. Finally, the article discusses the importance of environments and tools, emphasizing that the abundance of available resources should not be a barrier to producing reliable and maintainable software. It concludes by exploring "promising attacks on conceptual essence," highlighting the need for a deeper understanding of customer needs and the inherent complexity of software requirements.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
Software engineering, essential difficulties, accidental difficulties, silver bullet, complexity, conformity, changeability, invisibility, high-level languages, time-sharing, Ada language, object-oriented programming, artificial intelligence, expert systems, automatic programming, graphical programming, program verification, environments, tools, customer needs, software requirements.
- Quote paper
- Kagiso Andy Malepe (Author), 2016, Summary of "No Silver Bullet. Essence and Accident in Software Engineering" by Frederick Brooks, 1995, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/321505
