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A work on software engineering by Ivar Jacobson et al. [1] describes software entropy as follows:
- The second law of thermodynamics, in principle, states that a closed system's disorder cannot be reduced, it can only remain unchanged or increase. A measure of this disorder is entropy. This law also seems plausible for software systems; as a system is modified, its disorder, or entropy, always increases. This is known as software entropy
- Within software development, there are similar theories; see Lehman (1985)[2],
- who suggested a number of laws, of which two were, basically, as follows:
-
- A computer program that is used will be modified
- When a program is modified, its complexity will increase, provided that one does not actively work against this.
Andrew Hunt and David Thomas use Fixing Broken Windows as a metaphor for avoiding software entropy in software development.[3]
The process of code refactoring can result in stepwise reductions in software entropy.
See also
Sources
- Page 69 of Object-Oriented Software Engineering by Ivar Jacobson (1992)
- Lehman M.M. and Belady L. (1985). Program Evolution. Process of Software Change. London: Academic
- http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/s/software_entropy.htm
References
- ^ Ivar Jacobson, Magnus Christerson, Patrik Jonsson and Gunnar Övergaard, Object-Oriented Software Engineering: A Use Case Driven Approach. ACM Press. Addison-Wesley, 1992, ISBN 0201544350, pp. 69-70
- ^ M.M. Lehman, L.A. Belady, Program evolution: processes of software change, Academic Press Professional, Inc., San Diego, CA, 1985
- ^ Andrew Hunt and David Thomas, The Pragmatic Programmer Addison Wesley, ISBN 0-201-61622-X, 1999. Item 4 (of 22 tips) is Don't Live with Broken Windows.
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