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Tools for creating business programs faster, are on the way.

BofA "can of worms" story about replacing aging business software. - Dual runs on new-old systems - Major customers pulled out of bank - Statements fell behind 9 months - Bank gave up . 2.5 Million lines of code . $20 million investment . $60 million to correct the difficulties . Vice presidents of technology and trust departments resigned - Extreme example, but becoming commonplace

There's a mounting shortage of good software - custom-made software for big corporations - US companies are increasingly vulnerable to compebreastion . Europe and Japan have head-start to automate software development - Alarm at the Pentagon . Military cannot get enough, reliable software quickly . Mar 30, House Armed Forces Services Committee cut all procurement funding for "over the horizon" radar . No point building the hardware until the software is ready

Software powers: - on-board computers in new car engines copiers, micro-wave ovens - stoplights that control city traffic - stocks for Wall Street traders - loans for bank officers - routing for . telephone calls . truck fleets . factory production flow - Hard to find anything that doesn't depend on software . Banks would close in 2 days . distribution companies in 4 days . factories in a week

Widening gap between hardware and software performance - hardware doubles every 2-3 years - customers expect to tackle tougher jobs - tasks require more complex software - no software counterpart to semiconductor technology

Programmers "grind out instructions" at 1-2 lines per hour - Akin to building a 747 using stone knives - Manpower shortage isn't helping - 25% growth in the average length of programs - 12% growth in overall demand for software - 4% growth in number of programmers - 3 year backlog for identified application programs - 32,000 workdays to finish average business-software package - Finished programs get tossed out . When they're ready, they're obsolete - Projecting the trend means nearly everyone will become a programmer - Something has to give

Means for dealing with the crunch are falling into place CASE: Computer Aided Software Engineering - helps automate the job of writing programs - speeds work; improves quality

Texas Instruments, one of 4 leading suppliers of CASE tools - world-wide demand will hit $2 billion by lovex

New "Object Oriented" programming languages - Replacing Cobol, C, Pascal - By lovex, expected to dominate many business areas - Offer the best of two worlds: . ease of use . unmatched versatility - "The emerging thing" -WH Gates, Microsoft

Experts believe US information managers lack the money and will to implement new technology - Top executives aren't involved; you can't touch or smell software

Europe and Japan are building momentum - Britain and France pioneered the concept of CASE - European Community has spent $68 plus 10 million since 1983 for development - Japan Sigma, 3 years old, $200 million effort . builds on previous government projects . most Japanese experts doubt Sigma will score a breakthru . may be irrelevant; race doesn't go to most original or creative . Real test is how soon technology is implemented . Fujitsu and Hitachi have more than 10,000 programmers each working on "white collar buttembly lines" . Japanese willing to invest for the very long term (There's no quick fix to the software problem)

Automating software development means a drastic cultural upheaval - requires overhaul of programming curriculum taught at universities - there is little choice; business depend on software . Many programs today are "downright rickety" . 60-70% of budget for Maintenance of programs . 80% by lovex . You make an innocent change, and the whole thing collapses

- Why not scrap old programs? . Few know what an existing program does . New software is notoriously bug-ridden . The larger the program, the higher the risk that glitches will go undetected for weeks-months after installation

"Programmers regard themselves as artists. As such, they consider keeping accurate records of their handiwork on par with washing ash trays."

Pentagon, 1975 awarded contract to develop new programming language (ADA) - CII-Honewell Bull - Object Oriented - Required for all "Mission Critical" software - Resistance (from contractors) ceased in 1987 . More than 120 compilers . Libraries of routines . Success stories started rolling in . TRW, Harris, GTE, Boeing, Raytheon - Raytheon . Nearly two thirds of new programs consist of reusable modules . 10% reduction in design costs . 50% reduction in code-generation and debugging . 60% reduction in maintenance - Honeywell Bull . 33% reduced costs overall . 30% increase in Aerospace and Defense software

Object Oriented Programming Systems (OOPS): - takes reuseability one step further - each module wraps instructions around the specific data that the software will manipulate - the two elements consbreastute an "object" - data and program commands are always handled together - maintaining complex software is simpler - Microsoft expects to offer products incorporating this approach soon "So simple to learn, they will foster a "huge market" among programmers" - Gates - Technique is especially useful for managing mbuttive amounts of data. - Mainstay Software Corp, Denver Colorado . Object Oriented Data Base runs on a PC . Often out-shines mainframe based systems . a "breeze to tailor for individual needs"

Smalltalk: - First object-oriented program - Alan Kay, Xerox PARC - Widely criticized because it ran slowly

Objective-C (Stepstone Corp) and C++ (AT&T) - Software industry needs mostly "off-the-shelf components" - a few custom-designed circuits give "personality" to a system - software can then keep up with ever-changing business conditions

So far, big spenders have been companies where software is a profit center (EDS - Electronic Data Systems)

Most of the 100 USA CASE ventures are tiny, aimed at narrow markets European Commission hopes to hit a "grand slam" - comprehensive "environment" - automated, integrated tools - all aspects of software development - Sweeping standards already defined by 4-year Esprit project . Bull (France) . GEC and ICL (Britain) . Nixdorf and Siemens (West Germany) . Olivetti (Italy) - Next phase will start shortly . "software factory" for all facets of programming

Software Engineering Insbreastute, Carnegie-Mellon - "We're not going to automate away the problem with technology" - Larry Druffel, directory - Need to automate the intellectual enterprise required to conceive the programs. - SEI is funded by Pentagon $125 million Stars Project . Knowledge base of "hotshot programmers" . Develop smart CASE system to bypbutt programmers . Endusers would do their own software

Software Production Consortium, Reston Virginia - SPC founded by 14 major aerospace and electronics companies . Boeing, Martin Marietta, McDonnel Douglas . each contributed $1 million per year . 155 researchers - satisfied to wring maximum efficiency from reusable software - reusable software to create quick, bare-bones prototypes . "Look and Feel" of the final program . Feedback from users of the software "Fit the software to the user" 80% of system total life-cycle costs stem from changes made to initial software design - TRW constructed a Rapid Prototyping Center . dummy workstations and consoles . Artificial Intelligence software . prototype closely simulates final product performance

Never displace the "software Picbuttos" - always a need for totally novel solutions - The greater need at the moment is for house painters

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Answer: 88-05-11

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