http://www.maniacsolutions.com/marketing-factory-venice/
A Short History of Systems Development
"If you do not have an estimate of where we came from, I do not
will have an appreciation of where we should go. "
– Bryce's Law
INTRODUCTION
I always find it funny when I tell a young person in this industry
worked with punch cards and plastic templates years ago. His class
same astonished look I get from my children when I say that we used
viewing black and white with three channels, no remote control
and signoffs station at midnight. It has been my observation that our young people
workers are not a sense of history, this is particularly evident in the
systems worldwide. If you do not have an estimate of where we come from
I doubt they have sufficient knowledge of where we go. Consequently,
I assembled the following chronology of events in the hope this will provide
an idea of how systems industry has evolved to its current state.
I'm sure I could turn this into a long dissertation, but instead, I will try
be brief and to the point. In addition, the following will have little interest
for academic development, but rather how the systems have been implemented
in practice in the corporate world.
PRE-1950'S – "SYSTEMS AND PROCEDURES"
Perhaps the biggest revelation to our young readers with respect this period
there will be some form of systems before the advent of
equipment. In fact, "Systems and Procedures" prior to Departments
computer for several years. Such departments would be affected by the
design business processes using the major "work measurement" and work "
simplification "is derived from techniques such as Industrial Engineering. Such
processes were carefully designed using diagrams network and flow charts. There
was a great precision in the design of forms for data recording, archiving systems
management procedures, and use summary reports to function as a control
points in the systems. For example, spreadsheets have been used extensively
for many years before the introduction Lotus 1-2-3 or MS Excel. There was no
also considerable attention to human behavior in business
process (the precursor of "ergonomics").
Systems were carried out initially by pen and paper books, magazines
(Logs), indexes, and worksheets. We have always had some interesting presentation
systems, all of the cards and folders, storage cabinets.
Perhaps the first mechanical device was old abacus used in simple
math (which is still used, even to the day). The 1800s saw the arrival of cash
registers and adding machines popularized by companies such as NCR
Dayton, Ohio under John Patterson, who also introduced radical changes in
terms of dress and conduct business. This was adopted by Thomas Watson, Sr.
who worked for many years at NCR and carried out these practices at IBM
and rest of the corporate world. On the other hand, Burroughs was a major player in
early adding machine in the industry.
The first machines writing is introduced in the late 1800s, he had a tremendous
effect on the correspondence and order processing. This was led mainly by Remington
Armas (later to become Remington Rand).
In the decade of the 1900s, the tabulating equipment was introduced to support those things
as census count. This was widely adopted by corporate America. Occasionally
to be implemented in veterans who can describe what a program could create of such machines
using plug boards. Punch card sorters added as an adjunct to tabulate
equipment.
As a footnote, most of what IBM Watson has learned about business was
his early years at NCR. However, he had a fight with Patterson who fired
him. As a small fragment of questions and answers, after Watson died, was buried in Dayton in a
hilltop headquarters of NCR, the company could not conquer.
During the Second World War, both the U.S. military-industrial complex based largely
systems manually in practice. We did so well that many people, including
Japanese support gave the allies a competitive advantage during the war.
The lesson here, therefore, is that manually implemented systems have been with
us long before the team and are still with us today. To give a sense of
history in this sense, I think one of our most Bryce Popular Laws:
"The first online, real-time interactive database system was doubly
accounting that was developed by merchants of Venice in 1200 AD "
An important development in this field was the work of Leslie "Les" Matthies, the
legendary Dean Systems. Les graduated from the University of California
Berkeley during the Depression with a degree in Journalism. Being a writer, he
tried his hand at writing plays for Broadway. But the work was hard to find
this period and when the Second World War broke out, I was recruited by a plane
manufacturer in the Midwest to systematize the production of the aircraft. Trust
on his experience as a writer, devised the "Playscript" technique writing
procedures. Basically, I wrote a procedure like a script for a play, there was no
section to identify the procedure along with its purpose, a "facility" to identify
forms and files that are used in the same, and an "Operations / section Instructions
describing the "actors" to perform tasks using verbs and nouns
properly declare each operation. Even went so far as to develop standards for
writing "If" statements.
For more information about "Playscript" see "PRIDE" Special Subject Bulletin
No. 38 – "The Language of systems" – August 22, 2005
http://www.phmainstreet.com/mba/ss050822.pdf
"Playscript" became a powerful procedure and was writing language used
extensively throughout the world. It is still a excellent way to write procedures
today. Ironically, I did not know what a profound effect on his technique
have later in development computer programs.
1950'S – introduction of the computer
Yes, I am aware that the ENIAC was developed for military purposes
World War II. More importantly, the UNIVAC I (UNIVversal Automatic Computer)
was introduced in 1951 by J. Eckert and John Mauchly. The UNIVAC I
It was a gigantic machine that was originally developed for the U.S. Office
the Census. Corporate America realized the computer and business
and DuPont Wilmington, Delaware began to experiment with the lineup
commercial purposes. The Remington Rand Corporation sponsored the
project, but the focus of the company and name eventually changed to "UNIVAC"
(Today is known as Unisys, which represents a fusion of UNIVAC with
Burroughs).
The UNIVAC I offers a sophistication unmatched by other manufacturers
Mach I most notably IBM tabulating equipment. This caused IBM to invent
the 701 and the series 700. Other manufacturers quickly joined the fray and
computers began to proliferate. Although UNIVAC was the pioneer in this
connection that quickly lost market share due to the marketing muscle
IBM. For some time the industry refers to as "IBM and
Bunch '(Burroughs, UNIVAC, NCR, CDC and Honeywell).
Scheduling early machines was difficult, as was done in a
Apparently cryptic Machine language (the language of the first generation). This
finally gave way to the language of the Assembly (the second generation
language), it was easier read and understand. However, many of
utilities we take for granted today (for example, classifies and melts) is simply
is not available and had to be developed. In other words, programming was a
laborious task during this period.
Recognizing the limitations and potential of the team, the 1950
represents the age of experimentation for corporate America. Here,
emphasis was not on the implementation of major systems through the computer,
but to develop a variety of programs to test the machine as a
viable product. As such, developers characters were considered mysterious
maintains "black box" and not considered however, part of the
mainstream systems development. The systems' and Procedures
Departments "still represents the majority of systems in enterprises
America, with an occasional foray to investigate the computer use.
The computer people were segregated in the departments of computer science "
(Later known as "deficit procedure excessive "or" Data Processing "departments).
1960 – SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT INFORMATION
Competition among manufacturers heated during this computer
decade, resulting in improvements in speed, capacity, and capabilities.
From The important thing here was the introduction of such IBM touted 360
(The number was selected to indicate that it was a complete solution –
360 degrees). Other computer vendors that offer comparable products
performance, if not more, but the IBM 360 was adopted by
Corporate America.
The programming of computers still a difficult task and consequently
Introduced procedural languages (third-generation languages). In
Today, these languages began in the late 1950, but the proliferation
of computers in the 1960s prompted the adoption of the procedural languages,
as COBOL, FORTRAN and PL / 1. Interestingly, These languages were equal
after "Les Matthies" Playscript "technique that makes active use of verbs,
nouns, and "if" statements.
The intent of the procedural languages was twofold: to simplify programming
the use of several languages such as English- and to create universal languages
that cross the boundaries of hardware. The first objective was achieved, the
second was not. If they were truly universal language, this mean
software would be portable across all hardware configurations. Manufacturers
saw this as a threat, software that makes it truly portable made the selection of
hardware irrelevant and, possibly, customers could migrate away from
computer vendors. To avoid this, small nuances introduced
the compilers of the procedural languages thus negating the concept
portability. This issue would be ignored for many years until the arrival
of the programming language Java.
1960 also saw the introduction of the Database Management System
(DBMS). These products were Originally designed as a file access methods for
List of materials processing (Bomp) as used in manufacturing. The DBMS "
designation actually came later. The early pioneers in this field are
Charlie Bachman GE with its Integrated Data Store (IDS), which
primarily operated under Honeywell GCOS configurations, Tom Richley
Cincom Systems TOTAL developed for Champion Paper, and; Bomp IBM
DBOMP and products. In 1969, IBM introduced IMS that became his
DBMS flagship product for several years.
With the exception of IMS, the first offers were based on a DBMS
Model network that performs the processing chain. IMS, on the other
hand, was a hierarchical model involving processing tree.
Realizing that programming and data access is becoming easier and
computer performance is improving, companies now want to capitalize
in this technology. As a result, U.S. companies embarked on an era
"Management Information Systems (MIS), which were the major systems
for automating business processes across the enterprise. These were
increased efforts of the development system that challenges both management and
expertise.
GIS was married "Systems and Procedures" The departments with
computing / EDP departments and transformed the combined organization
the "MIS" department. This was an important milestone in the history of the systems. The
systems had to learn about computer technology and programmers
had to learn about business systems.
Recognizing that common data elements were used to produce different
reports produced from a GIS, it became evident that the data should
be shared and reused to eliminate redundancy and to promote
systems integration and data consistent results. Consequently, data management
(DM) were initiated organizations, the first being the Quaker Oats Company
Chicago, Illinois in 1965. The organizations were the same as original frames
Inventory Control departments where different components were only
identified, shared and cross-referenced. To help in this regard, such organizations
Using technology emerging DBMS. Unfortunately, many DM
organizations lost sight of their original letter, however, became obsessed
with the DBMS. The data used and maintained outside the computer was
erroneously considered irrelevant. Worse, the DBMS was used as
nothing more than an elegant method for access by programmers. Consequently,
data redundancy systems plagued almost immediately and the opportunity
share and reuse data was lost. This is a serious problem that persists in
companies today.
1970 – AWAKENING
Although MIS movement was noble and ambitious in its intention, which failed
because of the size and complexity of the task. Many suffered MIS projects
of false starts and botched implementations. This led to a period
a number of new methods, tools and techniques are presented to reign in these
enormous development efforts.
The first was the introduction of "Methodology" that provided a road map
or manual on how to implement successful systems development
projects. This was initiated by the MBA with its "pride" in the methodology
1971. Although the strong "pride" was how to build systems, initially
used to nothing but the documentation and as a means to manage projects.
After "pride" of the spectrum was I John Toellner methodology and SDM/70
Atlantic Software. Several methodologies based CPA followed later.
Also during this time, mainframe-based Project Management Systems is
Nichols becoming popular including N5500, PAC Systems International,
and Atlantic PC/70 Software.
The methods and principles of Systems Project Management provide testimony
departmental guidance systems of the time: a strong emphasis on the Draft
Management. Unfortunately, was a fallacy that Project Management was
the problem, but instead people just do not know how to design and build
a uniform system. Given any companies learned, Project
Management is useless without a clear roadmap for how to build something.
In the mid and late 1970s several articles and books were published about
productively to design software marking the beginning of the structure "
Programming "in movement. This was a large body of work that includes such
programming luminaries as Barry Boehm, Frederick P. Brooks, Larry Constantine,
Tom DeMarco, Edsger Dijkstra, Chris Gane, Michael A. Jackson, Donald E. Knuth,
Glenford J. Myers, Trish Sarson, Jean Dominique Warnier, M. Generald Weinberg,
Ed Yourdon, and many others. Although their techniques were found
useful for software development, led to confusion in the field of differentiation
between systems and software. For many, they were synonymous. In fact,
are not. Software is subject to the systems, but the growing emphasis
in programming was causing a change of perspective.
The systems can only be communicated internally or externally to other systems
is through data sharing, but is the link cohesion that keeps the systems (and software)
together. This resulted in the introduction of Information Technology Dictionary. Again,
this MBA was started by his "pride" methodology (which included a manual
Application Data Dictionary) and later with their "product PRIDE-in LOGIK
1974. This was followed by data synergistic "Catalogue, Data Manager
Management of Software Products (MSP) and glossary by Arthur Andersen & Company.
The intention of data dictionaries was to uniquely identify and track where
data were used systems in an enterprise. They include functions for maintaining
documentation, impact analysis (to allow the study of a proposed change)
and controls redundancy. "PRIDE"-LOGIK had added the tint of the cataloging
all system components, making aid invaluable
design and documentation purposes.
The data dictionary was also a valuable tool for managing DBMS products
and as such, several additional products were introduced, such as UCC-10
DB / DC Data Dictionary, and the Integrated Data Dictionary (DDI) of
Cullinet. Unlike other dictionaries of general purpose data, these products
limited to the confines of the DBMS and not effectively monitoring data
out of reach.
DBMS packages proliferated during this period with many new
being introduced including ADABAS, Image, Model 204, and IDMS
Cullinet (That was originally produced in BF Goodrich). All were based
network-access model for files that was finally adopted as a
industry standard (CODASYL).
There were some other notable innovations introduced, including IBM
Business Systems Planning (BSP) for the purpose of developing a plan for
the types of systems needed to operate a company. Several other comparable
bids were submitted shortly thereafter. Interestingly, many companies
invested heavily in the development of plans for these systems, however, very few
implemented.
Generator Program was also introduced during this period. This included
report writers that could interpret the data and became a part of the natural
DBMS product portfolio. Also included products that can generate
program source code (COBOL predominantly) specifications. This
including products such as System-80 (Phoenix Systems), Genasys (Generation
Sciences), and JASPOL (J-Sys in Japan), to name a few.
MBA also had a generator itself in 1979 – a generator systems
originally called ADF (Automated Design of facilities) that can automatically
set of systems design, with a integrated database approach. On the basis of
requirements for information from a systems analyst, ADF interacted
with the "PRIDE"-LOGIK Dictionary data to design new systems and,
appropriate to modify existing systems. Because of its association with LOGIK, ADF
made stressed the need to share and reuse information resources. Not only
was useful as a design tool but it has been a handy tool to document
existing systems. The only drawback was that the ADF of the mentality
industry was changing systems software. Consequently, the program
generators captured the imagination of the industry compared to ADF.
The increase computer power, along with the new programming
tools and techniques, led to a change in perspective in MIS organizations. Now
such departments were dominated by non-programmers, systems people. It
It was here that the job titles "Systems Analyst" and "Programmer" married
to form a new title "Programmer / Analyst" with the emphasis being on
programming and design of systems front-end. Many managers falsely
believes that developers were not being productive unless
programming. Instead of "Ready, Aim, Fire" the trend became "fire, aim,
Done. "
Data management organizations failed during this period with the
exception of data base administrators (DBA), which were considered
servants of the DBMS.
The proliferation of software during this decade, is so great that
resulted in the packaged software industry. This was far beyond
computer services and programming tools. Included complete systems
for banking, insurance and manufacturing. As a result, companies
inclined to purchase and install these systems rather than reinventing
the wheel. Among its inconvenience if it was normally needed
adapted to meet customer needs, representing the change
program source code. In addition, the needs of data customers had to
be considered to ensure that there was no conflict in how the customer
data used and allocated. After that the package had been installed, the
client faced the constant problem of modifying and improving
the system to meet their changing needs.
1980 – THE TOOL-ORIENTED APPROACH
As a large iron increased during the 1960s and 1970s, computer manufacturers
identified the need for smaller computers for use by small and medium enterprises
companies. In the 1970s, people were skeptical its usefulness, but
For the 1980s its power and sophistication caused a "mini" computers
to gain in popularity as a business either general purpose or dedicated machine
to a specific system. Among the most popular "mini" computers were:
- IBM System 36/38 series (which led to the AS/400)
- DEC PDP series (which led to the DEC VAX / VMS)
- Hewlett-Packard HP-3000 series with MPE
- Data General Eclipse series with AOS
- PRIME
Competition was fierce in the "mini" market which resulted in
product enhancements and best value for the customer.
Instrumental to the success of the mini was the adoption of UNIX as
developed by Bell Laboratories, a powerful multi-user, system multitasking operating
It was finally approved by the majority, if not all, manufacturers of mini.
But the biggest development in computer hardware was not the computer Central
or the mini, but the "micro" computer that was first popularized
Apple in late 1970. IBM responded with his personal computer (PC)
the early 1980s. At first, the processor is considered nothing more than
a curiosity, but quickly gained in popularity due to its cost economic
and a variety of "applications" for word processing, spreadsheets, graphics, and
desktop publishing. This trapped in a wildfire as it spreads through micros
corporate desktops like the plague.
In mid-1980, the "micro" (On all PC) had gained in power
and sophistication. So much so, that a number of products based on graphics
were used for software development Structured Programming support
movement of the 1970s. These tools were known as CASE (Computer Aided
Software Engineering) that allows developers to take your favorite software
technical layout without pencil and paper. Early pioneers CASE
including Technology Index, Knowledgeware, Visible Systems, Texas
Instruments and Nastec and many others. CASE tools took the industry
by storm with almost all organizations MIS purchase a copy either
experimental use or development of full implementation. As popular as the instruments
Initially, there is little evidence that all increased production systems, but
however, helped design a unique program.
Recognizing the potential of different CASE tools, IBM in the late
In 1980 he devised an integrated development environment that includes IBM
products as well as to others, with the title "AD / Cycle." However, IBM
Problems arose quickly with third-party vendors to agree terms
on technical standards that enable an integrated environment. In Consequently,
the product was wrecked not long after its release. In fact,
CASE market prosperity did not last long as customers did not notice
savings and productivity benefits touted by vendors. For the
early 1990, if the market was in decline.
In contrast, companies turned to Bank program that included working
an all-in-one set of basic tools for programming, such as editing, testing,
and debugging. Microsoft and Micro Focus did particularly well in providing
such products.
Database Management Systems also gave a remarkable turnaround in the 1980s
with the advent of "relational" products in which the tables and keys. The
concept of "relational" model was originally developed by IBM
Fellow and mathematician Edgar (Ted) Codd in a paper from 1970. The concept
a relational DBMS was higher than the previous network and hierarchical
models in terms of ease of use. The problem was the amount of
computer horsepower needed to run a problem that
To overcome the 1980s. As a result. new products such as Oracle DBMS
Ingres, introduced rapidly outgrew its larger competitors. There
was an initial effort to convert DBMS pillars as TOTAL, ADABAS, and
IDMS relational products, but it was too little too late. As for IBM,
simply re-label their flagship product, IMS, as a transaction processor "
and presented a totally new offering, DB2, which quickly became the
Mainframe DBMS market.
generating program continued to do well during the 1980s but it was during
this period (fourth 4GL languages generation) were introduced to
speed up programming. The 4GL was a natural extension of the DBMS and
provide a convenient means to develop programs to interpret the data in the
database.
Another highlight is the development of the Data Dictionary
in "Repositories" (also known as "encyclopedias") used to store
descriptions of all information resources of an organization. One of the
motivating factors IBM was behind it (for AD / Cycle) who realized that
need some sort of coherent link different CASE tools to the interface. This
is another area for MBA first introduced its "PRIDE"-Enterprise
Engineering Methodology (EEM) to study a business and formulate an
Enterprise Information Strategy and its "PRIDE"-Data Base Engineering
Methodology (DBEM) to develop the database of the company, both logically
and physically. To apply these new methodologies, their
"PRIDE"-LOGIK dictionary was expanded to include business models, and
models data. Thus, MBA to be called "PRIDE"-LOGIK "pride"-IRM
(Information Resource Manager), supplementing their concept of
Information Resources Management.
Concerning the medical information infrastructure, there were two notable changes;
first was the introduction of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) as a first
described in the popular book, "Information Systems Management in Practice
(McNurlin, Sprague) in January 1986. Basically, the Director of MIS rises
a senior management level where, in theory, he / she is working in
same level as the Chief Operating Officer (COO), and Finance Officer
(CFO) of a company. In reality, this never really happened, and in many
cases the title "CIO" is not just a change in name, not in stature.
The second change is to change the job of "programmer" for "Software
Engineer. "Once again, we are mainly talking about semantics. It is true that many
programmers of the 1980 studied programming structured, but
very few really understand the nature of engineering that applies to
Most of the software, are glorified encoders. However, the software
Engineer "title is still actively used today. On the contrary, the last of the
true "Analysts systems "slowly vanished. Here again is proof
the shift of software systems.
During the 1980s also saw the rise of the MBA graduate from
business schools and working its way into the corporate landscape. Although
they had no immediate impact on system in the world, had a dramatic
effect on the corporate psyche. Their work resulted in severe reductions in corporate
downsizing, and contracting external. This changed the business mentality to think
short term versus long term. Then, companies shunned
major systems projects (Such as GIS projects of the 1960s) and were content
deal with small programming tasks, hence the term "application" was coined to
describe an individual application program.
Interestingly, a 'quality' movement flourished in the 1980s based on
works of W. Edwards Deming and Joseph M. Juran was a pioneer in quality
control early in the first part of the 20th century. Unfortunately, his
early work was little appreciated in the United States and, therefore, applies
their talents to help rebuild the plant in Japan after the war. Was
only at the end of his life had to receive recognition for their work in
United States (after Japan became an economic power). Other
influential factor was the introduction of ISO 9000 quality
management was originally conceived by the British and later adopted as
an international standard. Little attention probably would have paid
ISO 9000, if not for the fact that European companies have begun to demand
fulfillment to do business with their companies.
However, these factors resulted in a reorientation of American States
companies to think in terms product development quality,
affected if the systems and software are produced. The real impact
of the quality movement, but not be liable to the world until systems
the next decade.
To summarize the 1980 system from a development perspective, the approach
far from the main task scheduling systems smaller than
were carried out using newly devised CASE tools. This caused a "tool-oriented to
"Approach to development where firms spent considerably in the
latest programming tools, but little about the management systems in advance
work. In other words, they bought in the vendor claims of improvement
programmer productivity through the use of tools. Unfortunately, was
tile systems that it takes more time compared to maintenance
modify or improve the systems. "Firefighting" which became normal
developing mode of operation.
1990 – REDISCOVERY
As the PC gained in stature, he became in such a very important
companies so that workers could collaborate and communicate on a
common level. Local Area Networks (LAN) and wide area Networks (WAN)
seemed to spring-overnight. As the power of the PC and the capacity increased,
it became clear that businesses no longer need to load mainframes
and minis. Instead, specialized machines were developed to control and
sharing computer files, hence the birth of "client-server" where
client computers on a network file servers interacted with. This is not
completely negate the need for mainframes and minis (which were also
used as file servers), but had a significant impact on sales. Business
mainframes still necessary to process transactions and large bulky
accounts and numbers, but the trend was moving away from big iron.
Thanks to the small size of the PC, companies no longer requires a large
room to maintain the equipment. Instead, the teams remained
in closets and under desks. This became so pervasive that companies do not
else knew where his most computer rooms. In a way,
spread of computers and networks closely resembled the nervous system
the human body.
One of the key elements that made this possible was the introduction
Intel 30 386 (or 386) chip that enables 32-bit processing. It effectively
use this new technology, new operating systems had to be introduced, the
first of which IBM OS / 2 in late 1980. OS / 2 things as always
virtual memory, multitasking, multithreading, network connectivity,
crash protection, a new file system for high performance, and a Polished object
oriented desktop. Frankly, there was nothing else out there that can
party itself. Unfortunately, Microsoft bullied along and OS / 2
Windows 95 and NT. In the late 1990s, OS / 2 was almost forgotten
by its supplier, IBM. However, it was the advent of 32-bit computing
that customer really did / server computing a reality.
Another important milestone during this decade was the adoption of
Internet by corporations U.S.. The Internet actually started in the late
1960 under the Defense Department and later opened to other
government agencies and academic. But it was not until 1990 that
companies began to appreciate the Internet as communications and
marketing medium.
The first browser site developed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990,
led to the Protocol to the World Wide Web on the Internet. The first web browsers
including Mosaic, Netscape Navigator and Internet Microsoft Explorer,
among others. The beauty of Internet is that all teams can
now access the Internet regardless of the operating system, which is a
approach truly universal access to data. To write a Web page, a simple
label language was designed, Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), which was
compiled at the time of the application to display the website. HTML was nice to
development of simple static web pages (not much interaction, just see
website). Developers invented new techniques to make a web page
more dynamic allowing people to input data and interact with files,
ultimately allowed the marketing of products through Internet.
Wanting to do something more sophisticated through the web browser
Sun Microsystems developed the Java programming language in 1995. Java
was a universal programming language that could run in any operation
the system. His mantra was "Write Once, Run Anywhere." This was a radical
output programming in the past where it was necessary recompiling
programs to meet the peculiarities of a particular operating system. Basically,
Java made the operating system irrelevant, to the chagrin Microsoft. Moreover,
Java could be used in small handheld devices, as well as the new generation
computer power cars. This does not sit well with Microsoft that
ultimately, he fought against the spread of Java.
By the 1990s, the movement Structured Programming was gone. Instead,
"Object Oriented Programming (OOP) gained in popularity. The programming concept Object-Oriented
was the development of the code blocks to model real world entities such as customers,
products and transactions. Oriented Programming Object had a profound effect on Java as well as the
C + + programming language.
During this time, generating source code is lost of view. It is true that companies
continues to use the report's authors and 4GL, but the emphasis is directed to "Visual Programming"
were programming workbenches with screen painting tools distribution
inputs and outputs.
The movement was still relational DBMS underway, but the use of repositories
and data dictionary fallen sharply. Of interest though was the
introduction of the "oriented Database Object Management System (OODBMS)
technology. Like the POO, the data were organized into an agreement for the real world DBMS
entities. Of all However, relational DBMS dominated the field.
Also during this decade "Data Mining" which became popular companies
tools provided to harvest data from your DBMS. This effort was basically an admission
companies must learn to live with data redundancy and not be concerned
with the development of a database environment maintained.
Due to the radical changes in hardware and software, companies became
concerned with aging "legacy" systems as developed in the last thirty years. A
migrate to this new technology, a movement was created called "Processes Business
Re-engineering (BPR). This is encouraging in the sense that firms
starting to think again in terms of global business systems rather than just
programs. I'm not sure I agree with the use of the term "reengineering", though;
this means that something was directed first (which was precisely the
If these systems more).
However, as CASE-tools were introduced to define business processes. Suddenly,
companies were talking about things like "workflow", "Ergonomics and
"Flow Diagrams," issues had not been discussed for twenty years, during the frenzy of
The structure of the programming movement. Ultimately, this led to the rediscovery of
analytical systems that had more than just a systems software. But by then,
all major corporate systems analysts were withdrawn or been put out to pasture
leaving a gap in knowledge systems. Consequently, the industry began to learn again
theory systems, with a lot of mistakes on the road.
The companies at this time still struggling with the development of an appropriate development
the environment. Most are content to just keep their current systems
in anticipation of the pending Y2K (Year 2000) problem (where the date fields to be
change 20XX 19XX companies that could off). However,
a few companies began to consider how to apply scientific principles to more
production systems. Since people were already talking about "Software
Engineering, "why not apply the engineering / manufacturing principles to
total development of systems?
Back in the early 1980s, Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI)
coordinated a handful Japanese computer manufacturers to establish a
special environment for the production of system software such as operating systems
and compilers. This effort became known as the Japanese "Software Factories"
that captured the imagination of the industry. Although the experiment
ended with mixed results, they found organization and discipline
dramatically improve productivity.
Why experiment? Mainly because The Japanese recognized that
Two basic approaches to manufacturing anything, "one at a time" or
mass production. Both are consistent approaches that can produce a high
quality product. The difference lies in the fact that mass production offers
increased volume at lower cost. In addition, workers can be easily trained
and put into production. On the other hand, "at once" approach
slower and usually has higher costs. It requires workers to have relations with
all aspects of the product.
MBA took a step further by introducing the concept of information "
Factory "in the 1990s. The factory is a complete information
development environment that implements the concept of MBA Information
Resource Management. Basically, drew an analogy between the development
systems for an engineering and manufacturing facility, with lines assembly
materials management and production control. These concepts were tested
effective in companies across Japan, mostly from Japan best project
which was sponsored by the Ministry of Finance. As background, the ministry
I wanted to skip the west in terms of banking systems. To this end,
assembled a team of over 200 analysts and programmers on four of the
confidence in the banks of Japan, Yasuda Trust and Banking, Mitsubishi Trust & Banking,
Nippon Trust & Banking and Chuo Trust and Banking. Through the implementation of the MBA
concepts that were capable of delivering more than 70 major integrated systems less
three years. Also, because he had control over their information
resources with a philosophy of materials management, the problem of Y2K
never appeared.
In terms of infrastructure, development organizations basically
unchanged with a CIO at the top of the pyramid and with the support of
Software engineers and DBA. But there was a slight difference
instead of being called a MIS or IT department, the organization was
now known as "IT" (Information Technology). Again, the name of tips
under the direction most organizations were taking.
Finally, 1990 marked a change in physical appearance
workforce. formal suit and tie gave way to Polo shirts and casual
Docker pants. At first, casual clothing was only allowed on certain days
(For example, as on Friday), but eventually became normal mode of dress. Unfortunately,
many people abused the privilege disheveled and dressed for work. This had
a subtle but noticeable effect on work habits, including how we build systems.
2000's – Gadgets
Now we are more than half of this decade and there is nothing
substance to report in terms of hardware, not our machines
have become faster, smaller, with a capacity further. Perhaps the greatest innovation
in this regard is the wide variety of "gadgets" that have been introduced, all
the interface with the PC, including: Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), iPods,
MP3 players, digital cameras, portable CD / DVD (and burners), cell cellular
PS2 and Xbox gamers. These devices are intended for any communications or
Entertainment, which gives us greater mobility, but what makes us a little dysfunctional
socially. All this means that the computer has become an integral part of
our lives, not only at work but at home as well.
Shortly after taking the reins of IBM in 2003, Sam Palmisano, CEO presented
"On-Demand Computing" as an impetus to the company the coming years and, inevitably,
that will mark his legacy. Palmisano described the concept was simple,
treatment of information as a service public that a company can use IBM
computing resources as needed. "On-Demand Computing" did a good
slogan and was picked quickly by the press, but many people
were at a loss as to what it was. Some early developments
as a result of e-Business IBM On Demand "research included load balancing
file servers, which makes sense. But IBM is taking the analogy may
too far in stressing that "on demand" is the way that companies must
run in the future. Basically, the theory proposes to abandon the ability planning
and depend on outside suppliers to save the day. In addition, it involves computers
replace the business systems that are supposed to serve. Instead of
understand the systems that runs a business, just throw as much equipment
resources needed to solve a problem. This is like putting the cart before
the horse.
The "demand" the movement has become "service-oriented architecture"
(SOA) where vendors being introduced "on demand" applications that will be
care tasks such as payroll, marketing, etc. over the Internet. Again, all
Sounds nice, but as far as I can see, it essentially is no different that the service
agencies such as the ADP for years, provided facilities processing. Now
companies are asked to change their internal programs third
products. I do not see how this is different than buying any other packaged
solution, which is not a foreigner is going to take care of your software.
The need for faster software has reached a fevered pitch. So much so
with housing development methodologies have been abandoned in favor of
what is called "Agile" or "Extreme Programming", which are basically
Quick and dirty methods to write software using programming power
tools. We must recognize that these approaches recognize this hawk is limited
software (non-total) and is not a substitute for a comprehensive
methodology. Agile / Extreme Programming is gaining considerable attention
in the press.
Then we come to "Enterprise Architecture" which is derived from a document
written by John A. Zachman IBM, who observed that it was possible
architectural principles of systems development. This is closely
consultants related to exalt the virtues of capture "Business rules"
which is essentially a refinement of the entity-relationship (ER) Diagramming
techniques popularized a decade earlier with CASE tools.
As in the 1990s, concepts such as "Enterprise Architecture" and "business rules"
is indicative of industry trying to reinvent systems theory.
CONCLUSIONS
As computers, the trend of the last fifty years systems
development is to think small. The developers operate in an outburst
write programs in a period of 90 days. Interestingly, all know
their enterprise systems are large, however, are content to attack a
program at a time. Furthermore, there seems little concern that their work
be compatible with other systems and integration is another person
problem. People often hear the excuse: "We have no time to do things
right . Translation: "We have plenty of time to do things wrong." Any direct access
To get through a streamlined project and any promising new tool improves
productivity is purchased. When companies try to cope with large systems
(That's becoming increasingly rare) is usually met with disaster. Consequently, companies
have less confidence in their abilities and shy away from development of large systems
projects.
Corporate management is naive in terms of understanding the value of
information and have not learned how to use it for competitive advantage
(Unlike their foreign competitors). Additionally, are unrelated to problems
systems development. They believe that their systems are being developed with a high
degree crafts, which are integrated, and are easy to maintain
and updating. The executives are surprised when they discover that this is not the case.
The problems with current systems are no different than fifty years ago:
- end user needs the information is not satisfied.
- Documentation Systems failure, making it difficult to maintain and update.
- The lack of system integration.
- Redundancy corporate data sheets databases.
- Projects are rarely delivered on time and within budget.
- Quality suffers.
- personal development are constantly fighting fires.
- The delayed improvements do not appear to decrease, but increases instead.
Although the team provides an impetus to the mechanical application
systems, has also fostered an approach to systems development tool. Instead
stand back and a look at our systems engineering and manufacturing company
perspective, it is apparently easier and less painful to buy a tool to solve a
problem. This is like taking a pill when surgery is really necessary. What is
needed is smaller and management tools. If we build bridges Similarly
build systems in this country, this would be a nation run by ferry.
The impact was so great computer systems industry
elevated the stature of programmers and systems forced people to close
extinction. Fortunately, the industry has discovered that more
systems to not only programming and, therefore, is in the process
rediscovering the basic systems theory. Some of the ideas that was put forward are really
imaginative, others are nothing more than extensions of the theory of programming
and others are just plain nonsense. In other words, the world system is still ongoing
through growing pains like a teenager who questions things and learn
to experiment.
I was lucky enough to see much of this history first hand. I
observed changes not only in terms of systems and equipment, but also
how the press has evolved and the profession in general. It
It's been an interesting debate.
Throughout all this, there have been some very smart people who
have impacted the industry, there have been quite a few charlatans,
but has only been a handful of true geniuses, one of which was
Robert W. Beamer who died just a couple of years ago. Bob
was the father of ASCII code, without which we would not team
Today, the Internet, thousands of millions of dollars owned by Bill Gates, or
this document.
About the Author
Tim Bryce is the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has 30 years of experience in the field. He is available for training and consulting on an international basis.
He can be contacted at: timb001@phmainstreet.com
Copyright © 2006 MBA. All rights reserved.
Carnivale of Ascension