A Matched Project Evaluation of Modern Programming Practices. Volume I. Management Report on the ASTROS Plan

摘要

A plan for improving software development called Advanced Systematic Techniques for Reliable Operational Software (ASTROS) has been developed. This system provides guidelines for applying the following modern programming practices to software development: Structured design and testing, HIPO charts, Chief programmer teams, Structured coding, Structured walk-throughs, and Program support library. In order to test the utility of these techniques, two development projects (non-real-time) sponsored by SAMTEC from the Metric Integrated Processing System were chosen for a quasi-experimental comparison. This system provides control and data analysis for missile launches. The Lauch Support Data Base (LSDB) was developed under the guidelines of the ASTROS plan, while the Data Analysis Processor (DAP) was developed using conventional techniques. This Volume presents a condensed report of the results of this study which has been prepared for a non-scientific and/or managerial audience. The performance of the LSDB project was comparable to that of similar sized software development projects on numerous criteria. The amount of code produced per man-month was typical of conventional development efforts. Nevertheless, the performance of the LSDB project was superior to that of the DAP project. Thus, the benefits of the modern programming practices employed on the LSDB project were limited by the constraints of environmental factors such as computer access and turnaround time.