| Programming is about the creation of software to solve problems. Problems come in
many forms: simple to complex, small to large, I/O-intensive to compute-intensive.
Over the past four decades, we’ve tried to solve a lot of different types of problems
with software. At some, we have been exceptionally successful and the solution
space is well understood. For others, such as those proposed by artificial intelligence,
we have only been marginally successful (and, in many cases, not at all)
within limited domains.
But, programming has always been both a knowledge-intensive and labor-intensive
process. As PCs became more pervasive and the demand for applications increased, a
problem arose—how to develop safe, robust software quicker.
Traditionally, the software industry has focused on delivering high-quality, special
purpose application software to the end-user and high-quality, general purpose
development software to the professional developer. End-users are not expected
to develop their own applications. Much effort has been invested in making software
development more efficient for professional developers by providing huge
collections of prefabricated software components. Much effort has also been
invested in increasing the utility of application software by providing customizable
user interfaces. |
