Blog

Development efficiency vs. Java, C#, etc.

I wonder...

Why has most of the software development society went backwards from fourth generation development tools to third generation tools?

Used correctly modern third generation programming languages are well suited for reuse, but still there's is a tremendous need for programming competencies often not found in people understanding functional requirements written in layman's terms. We get great looking systems that don't fulfil users' functional requirements. Why don't we concentrate our scarce resources on providing lousy looking but fully functional systems using fourth generation tools? And leave those fancy new languages to the experts...

In India you find many software development centres on CMMI levels 4 and 5. They can consistently produce good code exactly to specifications. Whereas in Western Europe software development houses are typically on CMMI levels 1 to 3.

I think we could cut development cycles if western companies concentrate on using fourth generation tools to provide "quick-and-dirty" solutions to real requirements and writing great specifications for offshore implementation using third generation tools and languages. We would probably see fewer errors = better quality solutions in shorter time.

Some will argue that users require those fancy looking systems. Do they? Take a look at one of websites that most people use frequently - Google - Is that site fancy??

0 comments | >