Data Structured Software Maintenance proposes a long-term solution to the problem of program maintenance, the largest single expense of data processing departments today. Traditional maintenance procedures cause programs to become unmaintainable over time because of the cumulative effect of changes to the system.
In this book, David A. Higgins argues, don't just patch the program, redesign the part that needs repair or enhancement. And use a structured method like the Warnier/Orr approach to redesign and document the existing programs so that they are easier to maintain over the long term.
The Warnier/Orr data structured methodology addresses more than just the coding style or the control structures of a program, and it can be applied even to programs that weren't developed with the method. The ultimate goal of Data Structured Software Maintenance is to have a good design for each program and to have the program closely match the design.
Other topics include a definition of good, maintainable programs, logical and physical design, repair and modification of traditional programs, maintenance of large programs, and installation of the Warnier/Orr method into an organization. Numerous examples and more than one hundred figures illustrate the text.
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Excerpts Table of Contents
Reviews
'In one sense, this is the first adult guide to the life cycle of software design. . . . Higgins' style is crisp and lively, and his examples clear and down-to-earth. He is also one of those enviable people who is equally clear on paper as in person.'
--Nicholas Zvegintzov
from the foreword
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'I enjoyed Data Structured Software Maintenance and in my opinion it's a good book. . . . Dave Higgins' solutions seem to be practical at the level of programming. The book is COBOL-oriented but the readers using other languages can find analogous solutions to solve their problems. The programming example is very good because it is very simple. Some could say that it is too simple at the logical level, but we must not forget that no one book can cover an entire topic even if it is well defined. This book will be useful above all for programmers and I hope that it will help them to obtain good results.'
--Jean-Dominique Warnier
Author and Originator of
the Data Structured Approach to Software Design
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'In Data Structured Software Maintenance, Higgins offers a realistic assessment of the problem of software maintenance, and he avoids a lot of seemingly easy answers. I recommend the book to anyone who maintains software.'
--Stephen M. McMenamin
Principal, The Atlantic Systems Guild
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'Back in the 'Dark Ages' (circa 1986), Dave Higgins wrote Data Structured Software Maintenance, a book that addressed the high cost of maintenance, due in large part to the cumulative effects of changes to systems over time. Although Higgins advocated a particular program-design approach (the Warnier/Orr Approach), one of his primary themes was to stop the degradation of systems over time by systematically redesigning programs during maintenance activities.
'Although this older-style 'refactoring' was not widely practiced, the ideas are the same as they are today--the need today is just greater. Two things enable, or drive, increased levels of refactoring: one is better languages and tools, and the other is rapid change.'
--James A. Highsmith III
e-Business Application Delivery
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'Higgins is one of the pioneers in the field of data structured program maintenance. He has done a good job of explaining the basics of data structured program design according to the Warnier/Orr methodology, and has given good tips and examples for maintaining large programs.'
--Girish Parikh
Author and Lecturer
