Standards considered helpful

Abstract

Software development standards have been adopted in several professional software shops to facilitate the entire software development process. These standards encompass all aspects of software development, including design, documentation, coding and testing techniques. It has been reported by these software houses that implementation of standards for software design and programming has increased productivity and resulted in better quality software productsAfter some experimentation, it appears that a scientific approach from the very beginning to the end of the development process has to be taken. Instructors should work very closely with the students as each phase of the process is developed. Courses should be integrated so that the life of a program does not end as soon as a course is over. Maybe programs written in one course should be used in developing programs in another course. Perhaps there should be users (such as another class) for the programs developed. For our scientific approach to software development in the academic setting, we are advocating a consistent set of standards and its implementation by every faculty member. In the rest of the paper we justify the need for standards, specify the types of standards and suggest methods of implementation.