Felix Redmill (Felix.Redmill(at)ncl.ac.uk)
Wed, 13 Feb 2002 22:02:44 +0000
Wolfgang Ehrenberger wrote: >I believe, software engineering will eventually come to similar >structures as civil engineering did, i.e. timber-framed >structures. In the same way as a timber-framed house or bridge uses >several partly redundant pieces of timber to stand one particular >force, a software system will use several pieces of software to >fulfill one requirement redundantly. Software diversity >will play an important role in these architectures. Beware. The many timbers of a structure are in static relationship (equilibrium) while the many software pieces will all interact dynamically. The designer must determine logically how the huge number of dynamic interactions must occur in order to achieve the equivalent of static equilibrium. And having determined how they should, he or she must make it so that they do so - for all possible interactions, over the entire life of the system. Not easy. Felix.