Where is Software Headed?

Abstract

Before we outline future trends regarding software, let's briefly look back. Due to the enormous difficulties encountered with the development of software, many expected a single panancea to overcome the problems of the state of the art in software development. Computer aided software engineering, prototyping, automated programming, object-orientation and visual programming are just a few examples of technologies that staked the claim to cope with the known deficiencies of software development. The past taught us the following: No single technology or concept comprises a breakthrough. Furthermore, promising technologies are not applied immediately in industrial software development environments. On the contrary, it often takes decades until new technolgies exercise an impact outside of research laboratories. There are manyfold reasons for this dilemma, especially that many companies are stuck with legacy software and often believe that they cannot afford to overcome thi