Topic 3 | Software Entropy |
While software development is immune from almost all physical laws, the inexorable increase in entropy hits us hard. Entropy is a term from physics that refers to the amount of “disorder” in a system. Unfortunately, the laws of thermodynamics guarantee that the entropy in the universe tends toward a maximum. When disorder increases in software, we call it “software rot.” Some folks might call it by the more optimistic term, “technical debt,” with the implied notion that they'll pay it back someday. They probably won't.
Whatever the name, though, both debt and rot can spread uncontrollably.
There are many factors that can contribute to software rot. The most important one seems to be the psychology, or culture, at work ...
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