The Cellar - View Single Post - "Can Software Schedules Be Estimated?" (via Slashdot)

MaggieL · 11-05-2001, 03:23 PM

This article at Slashdot points to ".a recent academic paper Large Limits to Software Estimation (ACM Software Engineering Notes, 26, no.4 2001) shows how software estimation can be interpreted in algorithmic (Kolmogorov) complexity terms. An algorithmic complexity variant of mathematical (Godel) incompleteness can then easily be interpreted as showing that all claims of purely objective estimation of project complexity, development time, and programmer productivity are incorrect. Software development is like physics: there is no objective way to know how long a program will take to develop."

I found both the main paper and the "Introduuction to Incompleteness" to be interesting reading. "Godel, Escher, Bach" and Yourdon/DeMarco fans (double points for being both) should be intrigued. The paper itself is
Mathematical Limits to Software Estimation

11-05-2001, 03:23 PM	#1
MaggieL in the Hour of Scampering Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Jeffersonville PA (15 mi NW of Philadelphia) Posts: 4,060	"Can Software Schedules Be Estimated?" (via Slashdot) This article at Slashdot points to ".a recent academic paper Large Limits to Software Estimation (ACM Software Engineering Notes, 26, no.4 2001) shows how software estimation can be interpreted in algorithmic (Kolmogorov) complexity terms. An algorithmic complexity variant of mathematical (Godel) incompleteness can then easily be interpreted as showing that all claims of purely objective estimation of project complexity, development time, and programmer productivity are incorrect. Software development is like physics: there is no objective way to know how long a program will take to develop." I found both the main paper and the "Introduuction to Incompleteness" to be interesting reading. "Godel, Escher, Bach" and Yourdon/DeMarco fans (double points for being both) should be intrigued. The paper itself is Mathematical Limits to Software Estimation __________________ "Neither can his Mind be thought to be in Tune,whose words do jarre; nor his reason In frame, whose sentence is preposterous..." Last edited by MaggieL; 11-05-2001 at 03:32 PM.