A study of application program development techniques

ABSTRACT

A survey of application development techniques in 43 organizations identifies the methods and tools found most effective in application software development.

REFERENCES

• 1: Berrisford. T.. and Wetherbe. J.C. Heuristic development: A redesign of systems design. Manage. In/. SysL Q. 3. 1 (Mar. 1979). 11-19. Authors advocate "se of an on-line self-contained software package to determine user information requirements.
• 2: Culnan. M.J. Chauffeured versus end user access to commercial databases: The effects of task and individual differences. Manage. Inf. Sysl. Q. 7, 1 (Mar. 1983). 55-67. A field study investigating how professionals access commercial databases. Recommendations are on how to effectively manage this process under different circumstances.
• 3: DesJardins. R. Evolutionary distributed systems design. In Proceedings of the 1st lnfemafional IEEE Computer Software Applications Conferefre. IEEE. New York. 1977. pp. 765-771. Description and recommendation of four principles necessary to develop evolutionary computerized systems: virtualization. interface control. interoperability. and automatability.
• 4: Frank. I.W. Aoolications design bv trial and error. Infosvstems LSeot. 1979). ;6-78. 'A well-illustratid discussion of the usLf&ess of's ' prototyping method named application simulation.
• 5: Tor Guimaraes, Managing application program maintenance expenditures, Communications of the ACM, v.26 n.10, p.739-746, Oct. 1983 [doi>10.1145/358413.358421]
• 6: Guimaraes. T. The benefits and problems of user computing. /. Jnf. Sysf. Manage. I, 4 (Fall 1984). 3-9. A company survey identifying the benefits and problems of "ser computing alternatives (personal computing and information centers) and proposing ways to manage them.
• 7: Kendall, R.C. Management perspectives on programs. programming and productivity. Coolput. World (July 25. 1977). 21. A survey of application programs whose results indicate a" unusually high mortality rate as well as other important characteristics of application programs. Results are used as a basis for recommending the use of report generators.
• 8: McLean. E.R. End users as application developers. Manage. Infi Syst Q. 3. 4 (Dec. 1979). 37-46. A discussion of systems development and maintenance with emphasis on the migration of development tasks from the DP professional to end users. It includes a discussion of tools and techniques useful to end-user development of systems.
• 9: Naumman. J.D.. and Jenkins, A.M. Prototyping: The new paradigm for systems development. Matlage. In/. Sysf. Q. 6. 3 (Sept. 1982). 29- 44. A synthesis of the literature on prototyping into a process model. The discussion includes resource requirements. several examples, and the economics of prototyping.
• 10: Scott. J.H. The management science opportunity: A systems develop. ment management viewpoint. Manage. Inf: SysL Q, 2. 4 (Dec. 1978). 59-61. One of the earlier proposals of prototyping as a desirable alternative for systems development.

INDEX TERMS

Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

  H. Information Systems
  H.4 INFORMATION SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS
      H.4.2 Types of Systems
          Subjects: Decision support (e.g., MIS)

  K. Computing Milieux
  K.6 MANAGEMENT OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
      K.6.1 Project and People Management
          Subjects: Systems development

General Terms:
Design, Management, Measurement