Has Software Development Improved?

earnest_deyoung asks: "Twenty-five years ago Frederick Brooks laid out a vision of the future of software engineering in "No Silver Bullet." At the time he thought improvements in the process of software creation were most likely to come from object-oriented programming, of-the-shelf components, rapid prototyping, and cultivation of truly great designers. I've found postings on /. where people tout all sorts of design tools, from languages like Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, and Smalltalk to design aids and processes like UML and eXtreme Programming. I'm in a Computer Science degree program, and I keep wondering what "improvements" over the last quarter century have actually brought progress to the key issue: more quickly and more inexpensively developing software that's more reliable?"

Comments

So, show me the goods

[N8F8]

Such a widely read opinion as yours surely must have a project laying around you could use as an example of your preaching. Preferrably one you yourself wrote.

In my experience many in the IT field fall into one of two categories: Those who do the work and those who make a living telling people there are better ways to do the work (this group usually correlates with people who couldn't actually do the work themselves). Reading your resume it is readily aparent what category you fall into...