13 Mar
2001
13 Mar
'01
3:54 p.m.
From: "Alison Page" alison_page@becta.org.uk
The best novel I have read on this subject is 'a deepness in the sky' by Vernon Vinge. This is set several centuries in the future (and extends over several centuries). The practice of programming has become something like archaeology (or indeed socio-biology) in that code has been laid over code until the whole is completely beyond any order or rationalization, and modules which were created and adapted long ago may have unforeseen effects on present programming.
That's not even fiction. I worked on code like that more than 15 years ago!
Julie Horner