Splitting the Difference: The Historical Necessity of Synthesis in Software Engineering

• Authors: Stuart Shapiro
• Venue: IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
• Year: 1997

For the last quarter of a century, software technologists have worked to address the “software crisis” identified in the 1960s. Their efforts have focused on a number of different areas, but have often been marked by the search for singular “best” solutions. However, the fundamental nature of software-involving basic and poorly understood problem solving processes combined with unprecedented and multifaceted complexity-weighs heavily against the utility of singular approaches. Examination of the discourse of software technologists in a number of key professional and trade journals over the last 25 years illuminates various disputes central to the development of software engineering and highlights the necessity of a more pluralistic mind set revolving around synthesis and trade-offs