Software Engineering: As it is

This paper presents a view of software engineering as it is in 1979. It discusses current software engineering practice with respect to lessons learned in the past few years, and concludes that the lessons are currently not heeded roughly half of the time. The paper discusses some of the factors which may account for this lag, including rapid technological change, education shortfalls, technology transfer inhibitions, resistance to disciplined methods, inappropriate role models, and a restricted view of software engineering. The paper also updates a 1976 state of the art survey of software engineering technology, including such topics as requirements and specifications, design, programming, verification and validation, maintenance, software psychology, and software economics. It concludes that the field is making solid progress, but that it is growing more complex at a faster rate than we can put it in order.