The realities of software technology payoffs
Robert Lee Glass · Communications of the ACM · 1999
The article focuses on issues concerning the value of new technologies rather than the research issues to improve research in order to learn more about the value of new technologies. During the 1980s, a great deal of emphasis was placed on software productivity improvements. New technologies were explored and advocated that were claimed to give "orders of magnitude" improvements. During the 1990s, the emphasis has swung to software quality. Again, new technologies have been explored and advocated to give similar improvements. The purpose of this article is to investigate that question by identifying several specific productivity and quality improvements and exploring via the research literature what findings and data exist to support their value. To explore the value of new technologies people should look at the literature investigating several of those claimed to have significant benefits, those are, Structured Techniques, Fourth Generation Languages, Computer Aided Software Engineering, Formal Methods, Cleanroom Methodology, Process Models and Object-Orientation.