Software Engineering for Students A Programming Approach

400 Chapter 32 ■ Conclusion
engineering. Such components need to be useful, easy to use and interoperable.
They also need to be reliable, fast, secure and scalable. They need to work across networks,
the internet and with web browsers.
At the time of writing, the major players in the software industry are offering technologies
that claim to meet these goals.
32.8 ● History
Let us look at some of the history of software development methods. In the early days
of computing, the hardware was the challenge and programming was considered to be
easy – an undemanding activity very similar to clerical work. The first programmers
were exclusively women because it was considered unsuitable work for men. Fairly soon
it was realized that programming demanded a logical approach and abstract thinking.
(Regrettably, sexism asserted itself and the women were replaced by men.)
As the problems of software production began to restrict the application of computers,
the principle of the division of labor was applied to software development. First,
the job of the analyst was separated from that of the programmer. Later, with the invention
of high-level languages, operating systems and packages, the work of applications
programmers was distinguished from that of systems programmers.
Sometimes looking at the past helps us to visualize the future. Arguably there have
been a number of significant milestones in the history of software engineering. The first
was high-level languages, such as Fortran and Cobol, that allowed programmers to
express solution in problem-oriented rather than machine-oriented notations. Next was
structured programming, the idea that some constructs (such as goto) are dangerous
and that design is important. Then came object-oriented design and programming as a
way of modularizing software.
While each of these innovations was significant, none of them has dramatically solved
the problem of ensuring that software is reliable and useful. Perhaps the lesson of history
is that there is no silver bullet that can be applied to these problems. Arguably this
is because software has an inherent complexity which cannot be eliminated.
32.9 ● The future of software engineering
The demise of applications programming has been regularly predicted for many years,
and yet the demand for programmers is ever-increasing. What methods are likely to be
used in the future? What is likely to happen to the jobs of those involved in software
development?
Today, the cost of software generally overwhelms the cost of the hardware it runs on.
Software production is labor-intensive and developers are in short supply. A major remedy
offered is to provide developers with more powerful tools – usually computer
based. Examples are UML editors, high-level languages and software development
environments.