Re: Code Reuse (was Re: The Continuous Amnesia Issue)

Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote or quoted:

He refers to a NATO conference, and the reports are online:

  Back in '68 and '69, these were the days when the "software crisis"
  was the talk of the town - you know, the whole deal about how dang
  hard it was to write code that actually worked and made sense.

  Now, these early NATO shindigs really put the spotlight on
  the potential upsides of reusing software. We're talking
  about boosting quality and productivity, y'all.

  The logic was simple - if you use parts that have already been
  tested, you're less likely to end up with a steaming pile of
  bugs. Sounds like a no-brainer, right?

  But hold your horses, because there were some downsides to this
  whole software reuse thing. Turns out you gotta be real careful when
  picking out those pre-made parts, and you might need to shell out
  some cash for training and whatnot to get 'em integrated just right.

  So in a nutshell, the early NATO software shindigs recognized
  the potential perks of reusing software, but they also knew
  there were some hurdles to overcome. These conferences helped
  cement software reuse as a key concept in the world of software
  engineering, warts and all.