Software Entropy
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A Software Entropy is an entropy measure for a software system.
- See: Technical Debt, Software Engineering, Second Law of Thermodynamics, Closed System, Randomness, Software Development, Computer Program, Fixing Broken Windows.
References
2015
- (Wikipedia, 2015) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/software_entropy Retrieved:2015-9-24.
- A work on software engineering by Ivar Jacobson et al. describes software entropy as follows: :The second law of thermodynamics, in principle, states that a closed system's disorder cannot be reduced, it can only remain unchanged or increased. A measure of this disorder is entropy. This law also seems plausible for software systems; as a system is modified, its disorder, or entropy, always increases. This is known as software entropy. :Within software development, there are similar theories; see Lehman (1985), who suggested a number of laws, of which two were, basically, as follows:
- A computer program that is used will be modified
- When a program is modified, its complexity will increase, provided that one does not actively work against this.
- Andrew Hunt and David Thomas use Fixing Broken Windows as a metaphor for avoiding software entropy in software development. [1]
The process of code refactoring can result in stepwise reductions in software entropy.
Software entropy is increased with accumulation of technical debt.
- A work on software engineering by Ivar Jacobson et al. describes software entropy as follows: :The second law of thermodynamics, in principle, states that a closed system's disorder cannot be reduced, it can only remain unchanged or increased. A measure of this disorder is entropy. This law also seems plausible for software systems; as a system is modified, its disorder, or entropy, always increases. This is known as software entropy. :Within software development, there are similar theories; see Lehman (1985), who suggested a number of laws, of which two were, basically, as follows:
- ↑ – Item 4 (of 22 tips) is Don't Live with Broken Windows.