Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
During the first part of this era, assembly languages and macro-assembly lan-
guages were the norm. Toward the end of the decade, higher-level languages such
as FORTRAN and COBOL began to supplant earlier low-level languages.
Function Points in 1955
Function points had not been invented, so all data were measured using lines of
code. Backfiring or mathematical conversion from lines of code (LOC) to function
points show these results for a project of 1,000 function points in this decade:
• Source code for 1,000 function points: 320,000 logical code statements
• Programming language: Basic assembly language
• Reuse percentage: 0% to 5%
• Methodology: Unstructured cowboy development
• Productivity: 3.5 function points per staff month
• Defect potentials: 7.00 per function point
• Defect removal efficiency (DRE): 80%
• Delivered defects: 1.40 defects per function point
• Ratio of development personnel to maintenance:
•
Development: 95%
•
Maintenance: 5%
The following are the background data for 1955:
• Average language level: 1.5
• Number of programming languages: 5
• Logical statements per function point: 213
• Average application size: 200 function points
• Average application size: 42,600 logical code statements
This decade was characterized by a burst of intellectual excitement and a num-
ber of key inventions, several of which later earned Nobel Prizes.
At the beginning of this decade, discrete electronic circuits and vacuum tubes
were the dominant components of computers and other electronic devices. Com-
puter memory was in the form of mercury delay lines or cathode ray tubes. Ex-
ternal memory was paper tape or cards.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search