> Back in the 80s there was a lot of talk about
> Taylorizing programming -- modular or structured
> programs, the DoD's promotion of Ada, etc.
> Whatever happened to all that?
Different fads met different fates.
Structured and object oriented *programming* I'd consider to be "craft-styles" practiced by individual programmers within a whole-piece product/project type of manufacture. I learned structured programming techniques, and apply them myself, but I'll be damned if I can see how they can be used to divide programming labor a la an assembly line.
But the attempts to apply these notions to create "software factories" -- structured and object oriented *design* -- came to nought, but made mucho $$ for certain "development methodology gurus."
As for the other fads -- CASE tools, code generators, application tools -- I can't say, although Visual Basic seems to have completely eclipsed PowerBuilder.
Maybe it's simply that I don't pay attention to this sort of nonsense anymore, but software development seems to go on as it always has -- in a disorganized, ad hoc fashion, where managers simply increase the duration and intensity of work when a deadline looms. -- Curtiss Leung
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