The Art of Writing Large Programs

When writing small programs, one can use many unwise practices which have little effect on whether a program meets its design objectives as long as the program works. But, when writing large programs, poor program writing techniques can increase development time and cost and can cause maintenance difficulties after development. The problem of low programmer productivity associated with membership in large programming efforts is examined. To place the problem of writing large programs into proper perspective, factors one must live with are described. Techniques for improving productivity are then presented with emphasis placed on improving communications. Areas covered are programmer education, environment, task assignment and supervision along with program organization and documentation.