IT systems explode budget estimates, bust production deadlines
by years, and then fail to work properly. Why this IT-system
crisis? Poor programmers? Inadequate project management? No.
"The Seductive Computer" argues that the fundamental nature of
programming technology itself is the real culprit; it promises
perfection but can only deliver emergent chaos. It is also an
insidiously compelling technology, peculiarly male oriented.
IT systems, an unavoidable and increasing reality in all our
lives, are something new to man - large-scale discrete complexity.
"The Seductive Computer" explains this novelty that defies human
understanding.
This book illustrates in a simple yet thorough manner the
underlying concepts necessary for understanding the IT-system
crisis - not How To Program but what the demands of programming
are. It then proceeds to lay out the full gamut of issues - all
stemming from the nature of the technology.
From development to maintenance IT-system personnel are
grappling with incipient chaos. The technicians are seduced by the
detailed challenge of the technology. The scientists are seduced by
the promises of their technology. The managers and users are
seduced by the mysteries of the technology. No IT system is ever
fully understood by anyone, so surprising behaviours will always
emerge.
What can be done? We must rein in our expectations of IT
systems: what they can do, and how reliably they can do it. On the
positive side, "The Seductive Computer" discusses novel paradigms
that look beyond the current discrete technology: neural computing
and precise approximation computing.
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