Key Points

• Software productivity and quality have lagged far behind the gains in hardware productivity and quality over the past 50 years.

• Object-oriented analysis, design, and programming promise to dramatically improve both software productivity and quality.

• The IBM SanFrancisco™ project is presented as an example of the promise of Java-based middleware for improving productivity and quality in OOP software development.

• Component-based software development is employed to maximize the reusability of proven software components to build large systems.

• Components can be defined at various sizes, from atomic to molecular, to function based on size.

• Small components maximize reusability, and large components reduce complexity and improve performance.

• Extreme Programming technology enhances programming productivity.

• N-Version Programming enhances program reliability.

• Modern programming environments harness the sophistication of modern programming languages and technology and improve both programmer productivity and program trustworthiness.

• Programming development will continue to enjoy greater and greater automation as application domain specialists become the application "programmers" using the tools developed by "metaprogrammers."