acm-header
Sign In

Communications of the ACM

ACM Opinion

Why We Should Build Software Like We Build Houses


View as: Print Mobile App Share:
blueprints

Credit: Flickr

Architects draw detailed plans before a brick is laid or a nail is hammered. Programmers and software engineers don't. Can this be why houses seldom collapse and programs often crash?

Most programmers regard anything that doesn't generate code to be a waste of time. Thinking doesn't generate code, and writing code without thinking is a recipe for bad code. Before we start to write any piece of code, we should understand what that code is supposed to do. Understanding requires thinking, and thinking is hard.

From Wired
View Full Article


 

No entries found

Sign In for Full Access
» Forgot Password? » Create an ACM Web Account