Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
• A full, scientific taxonomy of common features that occur in many soft-
ware applications
• Effective methods of certifying reusable components that can guarantee
with more than 99% certainty that they are free from overt defects and ex-
ploitable security flaws
• Methods of software architecture and design based on patterns derived
from successful existing software applications (i.e., eliminate custom
designs and use proven patterns)
• Standard interface methods for sending messages and data between mod-
ules
• Secure repositories of certified materials that can be extracted and reused
either for a fee or via an open-source license
• Reusable ancillary materials such as test suites, user manuals, HELP
screens, cost data, and histories of any bug reports against the reusable
modules
Very few software applications created today are truly “new” in the sense that
no one has ever built similar applications before. The vast majority of modern
software involves either building newer replicas of legacy software or adding new
features to legacy applications.
Probably less than 10% of contemporary software applications on a global
basis are truly new in the sense that they are so novel that no similar applications
have ever been built before. This means that patterns derived from the most suc-
cessful historical applications can be encapsulated and used to design and build
similar new applications.
Instead of the current process of conducting lengthy interviews with clients to
ascertain requirements followed by creating custom architecture and design and
then hand-coding, a possible future for software engineering might be as follows:
1.
Engineers will meet with the client and scroll through libraries of standard
design patterns based on the client's needs. The design patterns will be de-
rived from successful applications that are already up and running. The
designs will be sorted by industry, by application class, by application
type, and by other relevant factors.
For example, there will probably be about 500 historical application “pat-
terns” for each major industry such as banking, health care, insurance,
telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, state governments, municipal gov-
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