Structured Programming

[Larry Campbell]

[I've redirected followups to comp.software-eng, since this has nothing
to do with unix per se.]

In article <4677 at pbhyf.PacBell.COM> rsp at pbhyf.PacBell.COM (Steve Price) writes:
}In article <226 at algor2.UUCP> jeffrey at algor2.UUCP (Jeffrey Kegler) writes:
}> Structured Programming
}>is often the buzzword for an attempt to routinize and deskill programming work
}>to reinforce the control of hierarchy over the programming process--separate
}>from and sometimes different from, improving quality.  
}Correct.  This is consistent with the needs of a hierarchical political and
}economic system (which we hackers serve).  Deskilling workers at every level,
}starting at the factory floor and moving up to the middle-level managerial
}class, is the great force now at work in American business.  The skill
}and talents of a few at the top are to control the desired outputs of those
}unskilled workers (or better yet, automated nonhuman systems) below.

The main reason for the desire to deskill programming is that skill is so
scarce.  America is raising generations of idiots.  It is difficult to find
Americans who can write their own native language fluently, let alone write
good code in one or more computer languages.  Skill is scarce but the work
must be done;  one solution is to deskill the work so as to enlarge the pool
of potential workers.

Another solution -- my preferred one -- would be to abolish television and
get really serious about education and intellect.  But that's not likely to
happen any time soon, and even if it did, the improvements would come over
several decades, while structured development can yield results in a year or
two.

One last point -- another goal of structured development (a more encompassing
term than structured programming) which has not yet been mentioned here is to
improve our ability to predict how long a project will take, and thus how
much it will cost.  I believe this is at least as important a goal as that
of deskilling software development.
-- 
Larry Campbell                          The Boston Software Works, Inc.
campbell at bsw.com                        120 Fulton Street
wjh12!redsox!campbell                   Boston, MA 02146