Tackling the discovery costs of evolving software systems

摘要

If software is so easy to create, why is it so difficult to change existing software to keep up to date with changing requirements? Discovery costs --- the costs of learning what one needs to know in order to evolve an existing software system --- has proven to be the dominant (but often unrecognized) cost in many software systems.This subject was discussed in a previous OOPSLA panel session: "Do Patterns and Frameworks Reduce Discovery Costs?" at OOPSLA '97. This workshop will take a fresh look - five years later --- at how organizations are coping with discovery costs.