Tuesday, November 17, 2009

You Don't Know Jack About Software Maintenance

Communications of the ACM has this article up on their site.
Software maintenance involves moving an item away from its original state. It encompasses all activities associated with the process of changing software. That includes everything associated with "bug fixes," functional and performance enhancements, providing backward compatibility, updating its algorithm, covering up hardware errors, creating user-interface access methods, and other cosmetic changes.

In software, adding a six-lane automobile expressway to a railroad bridge is considered maintenance—and it would be particularly valuable if you could do it without stopping the train traffic.

The article asserts that this can be managed, because it has been managed in the past. However, it is pretty weak on the "how" - only that it can be done.

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