HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jch@rdg.dec.com (John Haxby)
Subject: Re: Hardware lagging far behind software
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 16:28:00 GMT

In article <96@eiffel.eiffel.com>, bertrand@eiffel.com (Bertrand Meyer) writes:
|> 
|> If one looks without preconceived ideas at the sources of
|> the difficulties we have at advancing the state of software technology
|> (the ``software crisis'' if you like cliches), one reason stands out:
|> our software ideas are so far ahead of hardware technology.

Software engineers are also rather more common that hardware
engineers, at least for CPU design.  The hardware people that
design the CPU's that our software runs on are really thin on the
ground: 13 world-class teams (estimate).

Hardware also imposes some constraints which, uniquely perhaps,
software doesn't.

And, to be honest, I don't believe that software technology has
improved that much over the last ten years.  Ten years ago we
had object oriented programming and relational databases (to
name but two popular paradigms). A good many of the revolutionary
features of <insert favourite topic> design can be found in
<insert favourite antique>.

Software isn't several orders of magnitude more powerful or
more robust or more compact than it was ten years ago.  It is, of
course, several orders of magnitude faster because of the faster
hardware.

Software engineering has an awful long way to go to be as good
as some of the other engineering disciplines.  People who live in
glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

-- 
John Haxby, Definitively Wrong.
Digital				<jch@rdg.dec.com>
Reading, England		<...!ukc!wessex!jch>

----------------------------------------------------------------
The opinions expressed herein are my own, not my employers.
From: hayes%valkris@hac2arpa.hac.com (Brian Hayes 74-35 x65129)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: CADRE TEAMwork
Summary: Discussion on CADRE TEAMwork experience.
Keywords: cadre teamwork
Date: 28 Jul 92 18:34:25 GMT
Organization: Hughes Aircraft Company, EDSG
Originator: hayes@valkris


Are there any Teamwork (by Cadre Technologies) users?  If you 
would like to discuss the tool (perhaps "rack" is a better 
term), drop me some e-mail, or post to the net.

With tutorial in hand, I just started using it today.  Needless
to say, I'm on my third page (handwritten) of complaints.  I'm 
using the OS/2 version.

-- 
| Brian Hayes		| "One person's requirement is another	|
| (310) 616-5129	|  person's design." - I.A.Pirbahi	|
| hayes@hac2arpa.hac.com| <standard disclaimer here>		|
From: wltam@cucs17.cs.cuhk.hk
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Looking for conference in November !!!
Date: 21 Jul 92 06:55:08 GMT
Organization: Dept of Computer Sci, CUHK

Hello all,

	I'm very interested in S/W Eng. , esp. with topics like Reverse Eng.
,Object-orientation ,etc. I'm going to visit a friend in the city Victoria 
of Australia. And I want to know if there's any conference meeting in November
at place nearby because I don't want to miss the chance to attend such 
conference. Can anyone on this network give me a pointer to that ...

Best Rgd.,
Vincent Tam. (E-mail : wltam@cucs17.cs.cuhk.hk)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
From: colson@.uucp (Garrett Colson)
Subject: Re: metrics for C++ in large scale OO projects
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 92 20:22:05 GMT
Organization: Project Canada

>Article: 2553 of comp.software-eng
>Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
>From: ZUSE@tubvm.cs.tu-berlin.de
>Subject: Re: metrices for C++ in large OO projects
>Organization: IBM 370 VM/SP, TU-Berlin, Germany
>Distribution: comp
>Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1992 00:00:00 GMT
>
>Hello,
>there are some papers in the area of metrics for object-oriented
>programming.
>
>1. James Bieman: Deriving Measures of Software Reuse in
>ObjectOriented Systems, Technical Report
>CS-91-112, July 1991,
>Colorado State University.
>
>2. Rocacher, Daniel: Smalltalk Measure Analysis Manual
>ESPRIT Project 1257.
>
>3. Lake Al: A Software Complexity Metric for C++,
>Annual Oregon Workshop on Software Metrics, 1992, Silver State
>Park.
>
>Horst Zuse
>
>>------------------------- Original Article -------------------------
>>Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
>>From: keicher@us-es.sel.de (Manfred Keicher)
>>Subject: metrices for C++ in large OO projects
>>Sender: keicher@us-es.sel.de (Manfred Keicher US/ESS R.66 Tel.)
>>Organization: SEL-Alcatel LTS Dept. US/ESS
>>References:  <1992Jul3.133021.27179@us-es.sel.de>
>>Date: Mon, 13 Jul 92 08:41:36 GMT
>>
>>We are currently working on a large project within the telecommunication area, a
>>
>>1. Is it useful to measure cyclic complexity in C++?
>>
>>2. Are there any useful complexity measurements for (OO)-C++ software?
>>
>>Manfred KeicherTel.: +49 711 821 71423
>>Alcatel-SELFAX : +49 711 821 2303
>>US/ESS1Mail: keicher@us-es.sel.de
>>7000 Stuttgart 40
>>Germany
>>

It is probably useful to track any and all complexity measurements initially.
There are a number of low cost tools to collect the numbers making it an easy 
task. Experience and analysis will tell you which ones are useful for your
particular style of code.

Here we tend to have a large number of small methods in our code to date so the 
cyclomatic complexity tends to be very low and of limited predictive value so far.
There are some companies, writing C++ code for medical applications, that have 
developed guidelines for maximum allowable complexity, demonstrating that they
believe the numbers are highly predictive.

A paper was presented at OOPSLA 91 that outlined six candidate metrics to 
specifically address the OOD paradigm. Chidamber and Kemerer of MIT believed that
the number of methods, the depth of the inheritance tree, the number of derived
classes, etc. will all have an impact on complexity. Lake and Cook of Oregon State 
concentrated on the inheritance tree and designed a tool to capture some of the 
C++ metrics they believed relevent.

In addition to the articles mentioned by Horst, you may want to read
    Towards A Metric Suite For Object Oriented Design
    Shyam Chidamber and Chris Kemerer
    MIT Sloan School of Management
    Cambridge Ma 02139

    
-Garrett Colson    colson@opl.com
-- 
Garrett Colson
uupsi!thegang!colson
Xref: sparky comp.software-eng:2991 comp.arch.storage:562 comp.unix.internals:1625
From: martelli@cadlab.sublink.org (Alex Martelli)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng,comp.arch.storage,comp.unix.internals
Subject: Re: Extent-based Filesystems (was: Large Application data sets )
Date: 27 Jul 92 09:07:21 GMT
Organization: CAD.LAB S.p.A., Bologna, Italia

dafuller@sequent.com (David Fuller) writes:
	...
:Every proprietary OS I can think of has strongly typed files and that 
:means extenting.

What about OS/2, for example?
-- 
Email: martelli@cadlab.sublink.org                   Phone: ++39 (51) 6130360
CAD.LAB s.p.a., v. Ronzani 7/29, Casalecchio, Italia   Fax: ++39 (51) 6130294 
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng,comp.arch.storage,comp.unix.internals
From: peterw@DIALix.oz.au (Peter Wemm)
Subject: Re: Extent-based Filesystems (was: Large Application data sets )
Organization: DIALix Services, Perth, Western Australia
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 92 18:54:15 GMT

In <1992Jul21.113652.4898@metapro.DIALix.oz.au> bernie@metapro.DIALix.oz.au (Bernd Felsche) writes:

[.....]

>Who implements extent-based filesystems commercially? How
>does it compare with the alternatives?

Veritas springs to mind.  SVR4.2 (Destiny) has one as it's default
filesystem type.  Of course Veritas also have bigger and better
things to add on like logical volume management.  They way they have
designed the beast (with intent logging and what-have-you) the FS
does not require unmounting or shutdown before a poweroff.


>-- 
>+-----+ Bernd Felsche                     _--_|\  #include <std/disclaimer.h>
>| | | | MetaPro Systems Pty Ltd          /      \ bernie@metapro.DIALix.oz.au
>| | | | 328 Albany Highway,              X_.--._/         Fax: +61 9 472 3337
>|m|p|s| Victoria Park, Western Australia 6100  v        Phone: +61 9 362 9355
-- 
Peter Wemm		peter@zeus.DIALix.oz.au -or- peterw@DIALix.oz.au
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
From: shekar@cs.umn.edu (Shekhar Kirani)
Subject: software engineering issues of expert system
Summary: life-cycle models of ai software.
Keywords: expert system, software engineering, verification
Organization: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, CSci dept.
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 16:49:35 GMT

Hi,

In many artificial intelligence books and expert system building books,
the software construction process is addressed in a different way
compared to conventional life-cycle model. It is believed that AI
software follows an exploratory paradigm and it is not easy to develop
AI software using Waterfall model- requirements, design, implementation
and testing. It will be interesting to know whether commercial implementations
of AI software feel the same?

Thanks,
Shekhar Kirani
----------------------------------------------------------------
Shekhar Kirani				Computer Sc. Dept, 200
1530, S.6th. St., C-410			Union St., Univ. of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN-55454.			Minneapolis, MN-55455.
Ph: (home) 612-341-0256. 		(off)  612-625-4029.
----------------------------------------------------------------


Newsgroups: comp.software-eng,comp.object
From: pkdf@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Peter Froome)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: SpecBox: a formal methods tool for VDM
Date: 24 Jul 92 15:21:52 GMT
Reply-To: pkdf@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Peter Froome)
Organization: Laboratory for the Foundations of Computer Science, Edinburgh U

SPECBOX VERSION 2.21
____________________

A new version of Adelard's formal specification support tool for 
draft BSI/ISO VDM has now been released.  The new version has several 
improvements and enhancements over older versions, including the 
following:

*	A revised grammar, reflecting the latest draft standard
*	An improved LaTeX facility
*	An improved, much faster, semantic analyser
*	An interface to the Mural proof assistant

Prices now run from 495 to 1995 UK pounds for single user supported 
licences, with academic site licences between 250 and 500 UK pounds.


DESCRIPTION

SpecBox is an industrialised tool for inputting, checking and 
printing VDM specifications.  It is composed of four main parts:

*	A syntax checker
*	A LaTeX generator
*	A semantic analyser
*	A Mural translator

The syntax checker is used to input specifications in the ASCII form 
of BSI/ISO VDM and check them for grammatical errors.  The checker 
comprises an editor linked to a parser; it gives help on the valid 
VDM terms to enter at each stage, and also enables the grammar to be 
investigated and particular syntactic classes to be chosen.  It also 
completes phrases (by closing brackets, for example) automatically.

The LaTeX generator produces a source file for the LaTeX document 
preparation system that will print the specification in the 
mathematical syntax.  Line numbering, cross-references and subscripts 
are supported.

The semantic analyser carries out checks on the well-formedness of 
the specification.  These checks include matters such as declaration, 
scope, number of arguments, use of state variables and hooked values, 
use of record types and constructor functions, and use of 'is-
expressions'.  The semantic analyser displays diagnostic messages 
while it is running, and on completion produces a report file, an 
annotated listing and a cross-reference table.  The algorithm used 
for analysis prevents many redundant cascade error messages from 
being generated after the first occurrence of a semantic problem.

The Mural interface enables specifications produced using SpecBox to 
be transmitted to the Mural proof assistant for the generation and 
discharge of proof obligations.  (Mural was developed by Manchester 
University and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.)

SpecBox is continually being enhanced: future developments include

*	A version for Microsoft Windows 3.1
*	Mathematical syntax support
*	Full support for BSI/ISO VDM modules

Existing customers receive upgrades at preferential prices.


For further information contact:

Peter Froome
Adelard
Coborn House
3 Coborn Road
London E3 2DA
UK
Tel: +44 (0)81 983 0214
Fax: +44 (0)81 983 1845
Email: pkdf@dcs.ed.ac.uk
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
From: wicklund@intellistor.com (Tom Wicklund)
Subject: Re: 200 software patents in two months - what's going on?
Organization: Intellistor, Inc.
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 22:01:32 GMT

In <EMERY.92Jul24092740@Dr_No.mitre.org> emery@Dr_No.mitre.org (David Emery) writes:

>The main problem with this scenario is that eventually, the few will
>crowd out the many, as the little guys won't have portfolios of
>patents to use in trade.  To my way of thinking, this is the greatest
>danger of the entire software patent issue:  that it has a substantial
>potential to create monopolies or obligarchies (is that the right term
>for group monopolies?)

Can one give an example when this has happened in the past?  If it's
such a great danger there should be an example of a small number of
large comanies monopolizing an industry by controlling all the
patents.

The one case I know of was RCA's superheterodyne patent.  It so
revolutionized radio that people spoke of having an "RCA" rather than
a radio.  I've been told this is the one case where a patent was
canceled to eliminate a monopoly.

Looking at the electronics and computer industries, there are
many thousands of patents covering computer design, chip
manufacturing, etc.  Most of these patents are owned by large
companies.  Yet the industry isn't dominated by a small number of
large companies.  All the chip patents now in force don't stop new
startups from entering the market.  There are a lot of lawsuits, some
from patents, some against ex-employees, and there are examples of
companies that have gone out of business due to lawsuits, but this is
the exception not the rule.

I fail to see how software patents will shut down the software
industry.  There have been and will be well publicized cases where a
patent gets in somebody's way, as has been the case with patents in
the past.  Certainly it will cost money to contest some patents, 

I know of no historical precedent to suggest that software
patents will create a monopoly or oligarchy.  In fact, the only times
monopolies or oligarchies develop and last for any length of time
(more than a few years) is if they have government enforcing their
status by prohibiting competitors.

One of the main problems with software patents is that software is
much easier to produce than physical machines.  Thus many, many more
people are running into patent restrictions and much more feeling that
independently inventing something should not be prohibited.

I'm not trying to argue for or against software patents here.  But the
scare tactics of software dominated by a few large companies have no
basis in fact.
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
From: schnepp@nodecg.ncc.telecomwa.oz.au (Tom Schnepple)
Subject: RCS for MSDOS on Novell Server
Organization: Network Computer Centre
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 12:04:49 GMT


RCS for MSDOS Problem when running on a Novell File Server:

I am trying to run RCS5.5 as ported to MSDOS by Stuart Phillips
(stu@tandem.com) on a Novell file server (Netware V3.10 for Dos 5.0) and
get the  following message when checking in the file 'SOURCE.S' the
first time (and after entering the initial log message):

ci error: RCS\SOURCE.S%V: Permission denied
ci error: saved in RCS\%SOURCE.s%

The RCS subdirectory exists and I have no problems creating files in it
other than with RCS.  The saved file '%SOURCE.S%' does exist, but is not 
reckognized as a valid RCS file when trying to to a checkout.

The same procedure performs faultlessly if run on the harddisk of my PC.


Anybody able (and willing) to help?

(I am also looking for a way to have a RCS directory other than a RCS 
subdirectry so that more than one person can work on the software under
control, creating a DOS environment variable 'RCSDIR' does not seem do to
anything).

Thanks very much!

     _--_|\    Tom Schnepple  (schnepp@telecomwa.oz.au) 
    /      \   Perth, Western Australia
--> *_.--._/ 
          v
From: bertrand@eiffel.com (Bertrand Meyer)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Origin of Z
Date: 21 Jul 92 19:54:05 GMT
Organization: Interactive Software Engineering, Santa Barbara CA

In the referenced article I criticized the author of an earlier
message for not acknowledging the role of the originator of Z,
Jean-Raymond Abrial. The message I criticized was a long press
release praising the Oxford Programming Research Group and IBM
Hursley laboratories on the occasion of their receiving the Queen's
Award for Technological Achievement for their development and use
of Z. My complaint had nothing to do with the award itself, of course,
but with the absence of any mention of Abrial's name.

Since then I have corresponded with Prof. C.A.R. Hoare, Director of the
Oxford PRG, who has assured me that the omission was not intentional
and that the PRG's literature properly acknowledges Abrial's role.
He also sent me a copy of a recent joint IBM-PRG publicity brochure on Z
which mentions Abrial clearly and fairly. So it appears that the lack
of reference to Abrial in the network posting was just an unfortunate
but isolated incident.
-- 
-- Bertrand Meyer
Interactive Software Engineering Inc., Santa Barbara
bertrand@eiffel.com
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
From: silva@calypso.cs.wayne.edu (Joao Silva)
Subject: Want addresses for Esteva and Reynolds
Organization: Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 17:17:32 GMT

dhg@scs.carleton.ca (Daryl Herbert Graf) writes:

>
>Juan Carlos Esteva                   or   Robert G. Reynolds
>   ORIS Department                           Computer Science Department

>   Eastern Michigan University               Wayne State University
>   Ypsilanti, MI                             Detroit, MI
> . . .
>
 
  Dr. Reynolds is my co-advisor.
 
  His e-mail address is:
 
    rgr@cs.wayne.edu
 
  Dr. J. C. Esteva does not have a computer account in the department;
therefore, I don't know his e-mail address.  He still has a mail box
in the department.  I left a copy of your posting in his mailbox.
 

********************************************************************
* Joao H. S. C. Silva            * Office No. 466 State            *
* e-mail: silva@cs.wayne.edu     * Phone (Office) : (313) 577-6782 *
* Wayne State University         * Phone (Message): (313) 577-2477 *
* Department of Computer Science * Phone (Lab.)   : (313) 577-0565 *
* Detroit, MI 48202 - U.S.A.     * Fax            : (313) 577-6868 *
********************************************************************


Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
From: lms@TorreyPinesCA.ncr.com (Max Stern 310-524-6152)
Subject: Re: Bang
Summary: Huh!
Organization: NCR (Torrey Pines Development Center)
Disclaimer: This posting does not neccessarily reflect the opinions of NCR.
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 18:59:21 GMT

In article <1992Jul29.111040.11794@usage.csd.unsw.OZ.AU> p2018756@cumulus.csd.unsw.OZ.AU (Yagna Pant) writes:
>From vn Wed Jul 29 21:04:42 1992
>Subject: Re: "Bang!"
>Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
>References: <1992Jul28.085235.8554@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com>
>
>From article <1992Jul28.085235.8554@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com>, by kambic@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com (Bonus, Iniquus, Celer - Delegitus Duo):
>> I suspect that this is in one of the FAQ's, so if it is, just please point. 
>> 
>> Can anyone please provide references to "Bang."  I believe that it is related
>> to module fan-in-fan-out, but am not sure of the actual mathematical
>> definition.
>> 
...
>>
>
>T. DeMarco, Controlling Software Projects: Management and Estimation,
>Yourdon Press, New York, 1982.
>
>T. DeMarco, In the Land of Function Metrics, Presentation at the Fifth
>Internation COCOMO User's Group Conference, Pittsburgh, October 1989.
>
>T. DeMarco, An Algorithm for Sizing Software Products, Performance
>Evaluation Review, 12, 2, 13--22, Spring-Summer 1984.
>

I'm hopelessly lost.  What is this thread about?

I thought "Bang" was the vernacular name for the exclamation mark.
That is, when reading aloud, one would pronounce

  torynews!ncrlink

as "torynews bang ncrlink"

What else does Bang mean?

-- 

 |\/|  /_\  \/
 |  | /   \ /\                      Max.Stern@TorreyPinesCA.ncr.com
From: davidg@polvadera.dartmouth.edu (David Gelhar)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Extent-based Filesystems (was: Large Application data sets )
Date: 28 Jul 92 19:24:37 GMT
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

In article <MOSS.92Jul23092718@ibis.cs.umass.edu> moss@cs.umass.edu (Eliot  
Moss) writes:
> One can
> also have an extent based file system where the files are unstructured, as
> in the Dartmouth Time Sharing System (sorry, I don't have the citation handy,
> but some years ago there was an interesting article on this in ACM Trans on
> Computer Systems).
> 
"Disk File Allocation Based on the Buddy System"
Philip D. L. Koch
ACM Trans on Computer Systems Nov. 1987
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng,comp.lang.ada
From: gjp@sei.cmu.edu (George Pandelios)
Subject: SEI Conference on Software Risk
Keywords: Risk Software Development Manager Practitioners
Organization: Software Engineering Institute
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 14:27:45 GMT




			       CALL FOR PARTICIPATION		

				2nd SEI Conference on
			            Software Risk

			Considerations for Managers & Practitioners


The Second SEI Conference on Issues in Software Risk will be held in
Pittsburgh in March 2-4 of 1993.  The conference brings together software
managers, practitioners, and educators to discuss software technical risk.  
The conference will include plenary sessions, formal invited and contributed
presentations, panel discussions, and informal birds-of-a-feather meetings.  
Vendor exhibits will also be offered.


Participant Information
=======================

Individuals or teams interested in making a 45 minute presentation (including
questions and discussions) must submit a 2000-3000 word abstract and a 
brief biography to the general chair, George Pandelios.  Preference will be
given to submissions that demonstrate results of the application of risk
management in software development projects.


Submission Deadlines
====================

Extended abstracts are due no later than October 31, 1992.  Accepted
presenters will be notified by November 13, 1992.


Send abstracts to:

George Pandelios
Software Engineering Institute
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA  15213-3890
Phone:  (412) 268-7186
Fax:  (412) 268-5758
Internet:  gjp@sei.cmu.edu

Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
From: dferens@AFIT.AF.MIL (Daniel V. Ferens)
Subject: Re: Opinions of "Software Management News"
Organization: Air Force Institute of Technology, WPAFB OH
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 11:42:03 GMT

In article <21422@sybase.sybase.com> paulk@sybase.com (Paul Kennedy) writes:



>Has anyone heard of or read the publication "Software Maintenance News"?

>I've just received a solicitation and I'm curious if it would be worth
>my $60 to subscribe. 

>Thanks in advance.


>- Paul K


>--
>---
>Paul Kennedy, Sybase Inc.
>"Here comes Johnny Yen again ..."
>{uunet,pyramid,sun}!sybase!paulk  -or-  paulk@sybase.com
I really don't think its worth $60 per year - not enough material in the 
samples I have seen

- Dan Ferens - AFIT
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng,comp.object