20 Jun 2005
Beaver progamming
Memorial day weekend I was with my family, and watched educational TV with my nieces and nephews. One show was about Beavers and how they live. Beavers. "Nature's engineers."
And it struck me that Beaver engineering has the same relationship
to real engineering that 'software engineering' does.
The analogy is
perfect.
Contrary to countless cartoons in alumni magazines of engineering schools of beavers wearing hard hats and looking at blueprints, beavers don't actually plan.
They know how to manipulate wood and branches and sticks and mud.
They start with a general idea of where a dam should go, they then put logs and sticks in place with no calculation or forethought.
Once it's starting to hold water, their prime instinct kicks in: they are sensitive to the sound of running water.
Wherever they hear a leak, they throw more sticks at it and apply a patch.
Once there are few enough leaks, they decide they're done.
Things that are valuable
Things that are valuable:
- user's data and documents
- user's experience
- user's time
- user's satisfaction
Things that are expensive:
- Bugs, especially when found by an end-user
- Quality Assurance
- Documentation
- Training
- User support
Platform or Product?
As stated, this is like asking "engine or car?" The product has to have a platform. The question is "is there a defined product?" and separately "what are the capabilities of the platform?"
Product
There will be a product, at least at many institutions. The product will be a configuration of tools which have been tested and documented and offered to their community.
The question is then: is there a central effort to provide the testing and documentation of a defined set of tools?
