【正文】
power at increasingly lower cost. Today, the problem is different .The primary challenge during the 1990s is to improve the 2 quality ( and reduce the cost ) of puterbased solutions solutions that are implemented with software. The power of a 1980sera mainframe puter is available now on a desk top. The awesome processing and storage capabilities of modern hardware represent puting potential. Software is the mechanism that enables us to harness and tap this potential. The context in which software has been developed is closely coupled to almost five decades of puter system evolution. Better hardware performance, smaller size and lower cost have precipitated more sophisticated puterbased systems. We’re moved form vacuum tube processors to microelectronic devices that are capable of processing 200 million connections per second .In popular books on “the puter revolution,”O(jiān)sborne characterized a “new industrial revolution,” Toffer called the advent of microelectronics part of “the third wave of change” in human history , and Naisbitt predicted that the transformation from an industrial society to an “information society” will have a profound impact on our lives. Feigenbaum and McCorduck suggested that information and knowledge will be the focal point for power in the twentyfirst century, and Stoll argued that the “ electronic munity” created by works and software is the key to knowledge interchange throughout the world . As the 1990s began , Toffler described a “power shift” in which old power structures( governmental, educational, industrial, economic, and military) will disintegrate as puters and software lead to a “democratization of knowledge.” 20th century 60’s—70 age Traditional software engineering 1980s intermediate stages Object project At the end of 1980s Software process project 1990s Component project Figure 11 depicts the evolution of software within the context of. puterbased system application areas. During the early years of puter system development, hardware underwent continual change while software was viewed by many as an afterthought. Computer programming was a seatofthepants art for which few systematic methods existed. Software development was virtually unmanageduntil schedules slipped or costs began to escalate. During this period, a 3 batch orientation was used for most systems. Notable exceptions were interactive systems such as the early American Airlines reservation system and realtime defenseoriented systems such as SAGE. For the most part, however, hardware was dedicated to the union of, a single program that in turn was dedicated to a specific application. Evolution of software During the early years, generalpurpose hardware became monplace. Software, on the other hand, was customdesigned for each application and had a relatively limited distribution. Product software(., programs developed to be sold to one or more customers) was in its infancy . Most software was developed and ultimately used by the same person or organization. You wrote it, you got it running , and if it failed, you fixed it. Because job mobility was low , managers could rest assured that you’d be there when bugs were encountered. Because of this personalized software envi