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On the structure of a computing profession

Published:01 January 1973Publication History
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Abstract

Computer systems are dangerously out of control in several dimensions today. They are out of control with respect to social integrity, with respect to fiscal integrity, and with respect to cost and productivity. It is a simple matter for a knowledgeable person to abuse privacy and priviledged information in computer systems, to obtain information and to change it without authorization. Such illegal acts can be used for social ill or financial ill—to invade privacy, to embezzle, to defraud.

But where dishonesty is possible and occasionally may occur, an honest and industrious lack of competence has produced a staggering over-kill in cost and effort in programming. This overkill cost has two dimensions itself—first, in the cost of producing programs, and second in the cost of the inefficiency with which they control the hardware. It is not the least farfetched to imagine that each of these overkill costs are of the order of ten times that which is possible. That is, we are paying ten times too much for our programs, and they are getting only one tenth as must work as they should out of the hardware.

References

  1. 1 Baker, F.T., "Chief Programmer Team Management of Production Programming," IBM System Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1 (1972) pp. 56-73.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  2. 2 Baker, F.T., "System Quality Through Structured Programming," AFIPS Conference Proceedings, Vol. 41, Part I, (1972) pp. 339-343.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  3. 3 David, E. E., "The Production of Software for Large Systems," International Computer State of the Art Report (1971) pp. 403-414.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  4. 4 Dijkstra, E.W., "Notes on Structured Programming," Technische Hogeschool Eindhoven (The) (1969).Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  5. 5 Mills, H.D., "Top Down Programming in Large Systems," Debugging Techniques in Large Systems, Courant Computer Science Symposium I, NYU, Ed. Randall Rustin (1971) pp. 41-55.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar

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  1. On the structure of a computing profession

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      • Published in

        cover image ACM SIGCSE Bulletin
        ACM SIGCSE Bulletin  Volume 5, Issue 1
        Proceedings of the 3rd SIGCSE symposium on Computer science education
        February 1973
        171 pages
        ISSN:0097-8418
        DOI:10.1145/953053
        Issue’s Table of Contents
        • cover image ACM Conferences
          SIGCSE '73: Proceedings of the third SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
          January 1973
          185 pages
          ISBN:9781450373753
          DOI:10.1145/800010

        Copyright © 1973 ACM

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        Association for Computing Machinery

        New York, NY, United States

        Publication History

        • Published: 1 January 1973

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