Evolution of a small object oriented manufacturing system

Abstract

Small software systems implemented for small organizations exhibit many of the same characteristics of large systems as they evolve. Developers who produce nontrivial small systems use essentially the same approaches to achieve quality as developers of large systems. Small systems face many of the same challenges before, during, and after implementation as large systems. The paper traces the evolution of a small object oriented software system produced for a sunroom manufacturer from the original design and implementation through a decade of upgrades and ports to new operating systems. As with all such projects, it exhibits many common characteristics with other software projects. As with many projects, it has some issues that are rarely encountered by most developers. Ten years' experience with and responsibility for the same project, through its entire history, have given the author an opportunity to review his successes and failures. The reader is invited to share the hard learned lessons.