Modern state of software development - part one

Throughout the history the software industry has undergone a number of changes in moods, best practices, reinventions of the wheel, reincarnation of old ideas and sunset of countless technologies. Looking back at what has happened in the last two decades in both software development as well as software complexity is really astonishing.

The evolution has truly changed the world as we know it. The foretold End Of The World “scheduled” for this year by Mayan calendar is actually a work in progress. The world as our parents knew it doesn’t exist anymore. Cars are capable of performing maneuvers one had to learn alone (like parking) and it doesn’t take The Great Oracle to be almost certain that in the near future controlling a car will become obsolete all together. Same thing with TV sets becoming not a view-only experience but communication centres, refrigerators controlling the state of food by (almost) themselves or finally cell phones being sold without the capability to make phone calls but with a 24/7 Internet connectivity. All those things exist because there’s a need and all of them are driven by software.

Since the early 70’s the software industry is the single, most energetic part of our western society. The only other one capable of keeping up is its twin brother, the hardware industry. But even hardware is designed with software these days. Ironic, is it not?

In the middle of that is the most incredible, demanding and abstract profession out there, a program writer. Oh wait - we’re not program writers anymore! We are software developers!

That brings me to the merit of this blog series: what is actually software development? Is it really a profession, like a carpenter or shoemaker? A shoe is something I can wear, right? It’s a real thing made of real components. I can use a table made by some carpenter to have the evening meal with my family. Or maybe it’s more like a T-Shirt? But can I touch the software?

Certainly you can have fun with it! Games are the biggest time devourer ever :) I'd argue that if it wasn't for computer games the whole computerization wouldn't take place at all. It's through games that we have shed the fears of our parents about a computer being the Satan's tool of mass destruction. Who knows? Maybe they were right? The fact however remains unchanged that current generation of western civilization can't live without computers. And computers need software...


Have a nice day!