1970 to 1979: Computers and Software Begin Creating Wealth - The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering - page 170

• Methodology: Unstructured waterfall
• Productivity: 6.00 function points per staff month
• Defect potentials: 5.00 per function point
• Defect removal efficiency (DRE): 85%
• Delivered defects: 0.75 per function point
• Ratio of development personnel to maintenance:
• Development: 80%
• Maintenance: 20%
The following are the background data for 1975:
• Average language level: 3.50
• Number of programming languages: 100
• Logical statements per function point: 91
• Average application size: 950 function points
• Average application size: 86,450 logical code statements
The combination of better programming languages and increased development
rigor was responsible for the productivity and quality gains. However, large soft-
ware projects continued to have cost and schedule overruns and far too many bugs.
Canceled projects with more than 10,000 function points remained an endemic
problem.
Summary
The unbundling of software by IBM in 1969 opened the floodgates to the creation
of hundreds of commercial software companies. The patent decision in 1973 that
invalidated the ENIAC patent opened up paths for new computer companies as
well, including small companies such as Apple and Commodore.
At the start of the 1970s, computers and software were minor niche industries
with uncertain futures. By the end of the decade, computers and software were
on their way to creating wealth beyond imagination and making Bill Gates the
world's wealthiest individual and Apple Computer the world's wealthiest com-
pany. The jobs of computer programming and software engineering continued to
expand rapidly.