Persistent Software Attributes
Terry B. Bollinger, Jeffrey Voas, M. Boasson · IEEE Software · 2004
This article focuses on changes in the software development processes. More than one information technology-dependent business has folded after years of changes eroded its critical software infrastructure to the point where it could no longer support the company's full weight. Nowadays, software engineers worry when they don't see binary patches for a week or two, perhaps an ominous sign that application providers have thrown in the towel in dealing with the exponential growth of spyware, viruses, worms, and Trojans. Similarly, software and hardware installations have undergone an astonishing transformation. Installations and upgrades that once took hours, days, or even weeks have been automated by installation processes that let even casual users add, change, or remove software, and even hardware, in minutes. In industry, maintainability has never really been a permanent software feature as much as a limited, non-renewable resource that application originators have provided in varying degrees. Changes gradually use up this resource by muddling the intent and violating subtle but vital guarantees. INSET: A New Software Engineering.