Designing Maintainable Software

This book is about maintaining computer software. Its aim is to improve a pro­ gram's capacity for altering code to fit changing requirements and for detecting and correcting errors. The book is written primarily for systems analysts and programmers. But others will also find it interesting. Managers will find ways to decrease costs, improve the organization's performance, and lessen its liability exposure. Re­ searchers will be given principles to expand upon, and will be able to develop techniques for solving new problems that arise in the world of maintenance. Another group to benefit is students. They will be given a foundation from which to write clear unambiguous programs. Software maintenance is an important and timely area of investigation. It is the component that gives an information system its flexibility. It is also the source of many of its problems. Software is costly to maintain. It is the usual cause of system failures and is the frequently cited reason why systems operate in unintended ways. Most software problems are not serious and require only minor repairs. But some have resulted in the loss of significant physical and financial resources. Others have cost lives. The book argues for a new way of thinking about maintaining software. Tra­ ditional approaches, using software engineering and management disciplines, do not adequately address maintenance issues. What is proposed to solve problems utilizes a set of human factors principles that govern the programmer-software­ event world interactions and form the core of the maintenance process. This book is about maintaining computer software. Its aim is to improve a programmers ability for altering code to fit changing requirements and for detecting and correcting errors. Software maintenance is an important and timely area of invetigation. It is the component that gives a system its flexibility, but it is also the source of many of its problems. Software is expensive to maintain and is the usual cause of systems failures. Traditional approaches, using software engineering and management disciplines, do not adequately address maintenance issues. This book argues for a new way of thinking about maintaining software, proposing the use of a set of human factors principles that govern the programmer-software-event world interactions and form the core of the maintenance process. The book should prove highly valuable for systems analysts and programmers, managers seeking to reduce costs, researchers looking at solutions to the maintenance problem, and students learning to write clear unambiguous programs. Aimed at improving a programmers ability for altering code to fit changing requirements and for detecting and correcting errors, this book argues for a new way of thinking about maintaining software. It proposes the use of a set of human factors principles that govern the programmer-software-event world interactions and form the core of the maintenance process. The book is thus highly valuable for systems analysts and programmers, managers seeking to reduce costs, researchers looking at solutions to the maintenance problem, and students learning to write clear unambiguous programs.

...explores new ways of thinking about maintaining software ...aimed at improving a programmer's ability for altering code to fit changing requirements and for detecting and correcting errors.

Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 The Problem....Pages 3-10 The Approach....Pages 11-20 The Attack....Pages 21-29 Front Matter....Pages 31-31 Some Basics....Pages 33-38 Naming....Pages 39-46 Words and Letters....Pages 47-53 Abbreviations and Mnemonics....Pages 54-59 Language....Pages 60-64 Language of Mnemonics....Pages 65-72 Front Matter....Pages 73-73 More on Problem Solving....Pages 75-79 Solving Maintenance Problems....Pages 80-85 Other Considerations....Pages 86-94 Cognitive Structures....Pages 95-104 Front Matter....Pages 105-105 Implementing the Solutions....Pages 107-112 Testing....Pages 113-121 Front Matter....Pages 123-123 Concluding Remarks....Pages 125-125 Back Matter....Pages 127-169