[lug] Developer abuse

[David Morris]

On Tue, Nov 16, 2004 at 04:43:53PM -0500, Michael D. Hirsch wrote:
> On Tuesday 16 November 2004 03:36 pm, Jeffrey Siegal wrote:
> I agree.  software has the unusual property that once you've built it once, 
> you can duplicate it for free.   At worst, you can supply a build scipt  to 
> reproduce it.  It is all product development and the manufacturing is free.
> 
> I think construction is a really poor model for software development.  In most 
> software development, you are trying to do something you've never done 
> before.  Sometimes it is similar to a previous project, but then you are 
> trying to do it a different way.  If it were the same, you would just repeat 
> the previous steps and you could do it without needing lots of planning 
> anyway.

The comparison definately does break down when looked at
closely, but the basic principles behind both are still very
similar.  When looked at from the fifty thousand foot level
the broad steps needed to accomplish both are very similar.

I also wouldn't say software has fewer restrictions because
they are virtual restrictions, just that they are a
different *type* of restriction.  A quality software product
has an amazing number of restrictions once you start looking
at the big picture.  The restrictions in software also tend
to be the exact opposite of the restrictions in the physical
world as well.

--David