A Matched Project Evaluation of Modern Programming Practices. Volume II. Scientific Report on the ASTROS Plan.

Abstract : A plan for improving software development called Advanced Systematic Techniques for Reliable Operational Software (ASTROS) is developed. This system provides guidelines for applying the following modern programming practices to software development: Structured design and testing, HIPO charts, Chief programmer teams, Structured coding, Structured walk-throughs, and Program support library. In order to test the utility of these techniques, two development projects (non-real-time) were chosen for a quasi-experimental comparison. This system provides control and data analysis for missile launches. The Launch Support Data Base (LSDB) was developed under the guidelines of the ASTROS plan, while the Data Analysis Processor (DAP) was developed using conventional techniques. This volume presents detailed account of the theories and analyses underlying the results. The performance of the LSDB project was comparable to that of similar sized software development projects on numerous criteria. The amount of code produced per man-month was typical of conventional development efforts. Nevertheless, the performance of the LSDB project was superior to that of the DAP project. Thus, the benefits of the modern programming practices employed on the LSDB project were limited by the constraints of environmental factors such as computer access and turnaround time.