Software Life-Cycle Processes and Operating Systems

Team. This post is based on abstract concepts in software development life-cycle (SDLC) processes and computer operating systems (OS). In yesterday's post, we wrote:

One of the design goals of a popular operating system is expediting the common case of computing. This means that for the normal case, ninety-five percent of the applications it sees, it will perform well and quickly. This is also a wise goal of software engineering processes, accelerating the common case of development. This can be done quite well if one looks for applications in which he might apply the tenets of general-purposeness. These rules are fairly simple. One must balance ease of use and the breadth of the domain. A wider the domain signals a more likely increase in the complexity of the general-purpose engine.

This paragraph combined ideas from operating systems and software engineering. Eventually, the idea arose that developing a standard operating system for life-cycle processes might be beneficial.

A SDLC as a process has many abstract similarities with the more complex processes found in software. It often requires some form of multiprocessing or multithreading of its sub-tasks. Such tasks might be the activities found in requirements engineering, design and analysis, coding, or testing. These individual tasks might require intercommunication for completing their work. They require both memory in the form of documentation and processing in the form of engineer effort. The sub-processes of the SDLC require management. There are a number of traditional management roles in an SDLC, one being project management. The modern operating systems, such as Windows and Linux which we use, supply a pair of needed computing functions. The first allows for administrative control over a computer's hardware. The second allows for an interface between the computer and a user.

An OS for SDLCs would be a mixture of documented business processes and simple software tools. It would be both a set of management paradigms with managerial architectures providing administrative control and a grouping of methods for seamlessly interfacing with the workers and work products of the process. This might be a great paper, thesis, or dissertation topic for a student of software engineering.

Also, combining OS and SDLC concepts is a rather new area of human endeavor versus well-known concepts of general engineering. These principles have been studied since the building of the Great Wall and the Pyramids. It might be the case that someone has built or proposed an OS with a structure and facilities based on engineering concepts and roles. If not, it might be an excellent paper, thesis, or dissertation topic for a computing systems major.

This post is a slight digression from our topic. We hope that you do not mind, and some of the college students reading this weblog find these discussions useful. Many cannot pursue all of the ideas which cross their mind. Others suffer from "creative-blocks" at times especially when dealing with the performance anxieties of college. Remember "computing is for the birds". Hunt. Peck. Think. La-La.

A Short Note Added Later In the Day

We should clarify that we are not implying by our emphasis on hunting, pecking, and thinking that our readership is a flock of "bird brains". This would be an insult in many English speaking countries. Nor are we implying by this post that we are some great geniuses tossing unwanted crumbs at those who cannot intellectually fend for themselves.

A popular religious text states:
   
Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet the Creator feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!

One of its writers also states:

No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.

So, we simply are seeking the good of others when sharing ideas which might be of value for them. Please pardon us if you were offended. A full day of work is allotted for the life-cycle documents this weekend. We will share the results on Monday. Enjoy your weekend. La-La.