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BookmarkScienceDaily (Mar. 19, 2009) — A new international paper describes the concept of Opportunistic Software Systems Development (OSSD). The approach is about fabricating hybrid systems by scavenging for pieces of functionality to ‘weld’ together into a composite software system,” according to one of the authors, Dr BU Ncube.
It has been described as being, ‘akin to recent television shows in the UK (Scrapheap Challenge) and the US (Junkyard Wars) where competing teams are given a capability they must implement using only what’s available at a junkyard or scrap heap, a set of appropriate tools for integrating the pieces, and their own wits and innovation. OSSD is in some ways the new Junkyard Wars: making new capabilities out of useful software that’s at hand, applying innovative but effective engineering.’
Describing the research paper Dr Ncube said: “It proposes a radical approach to software systems development in which the major emphasis is on smart engineering, creativity, innovation and the most imaginative ways of gluing together seemingly unrelated software pieces to provide interoperable and maintainable systems that meet users’ needs.
“In other words, the Opportunistic Software Systems Development (OSSD) approach is about fabricating hybrid systems by scavenging for pieces of functionality to ‘weld’ together into a composite software system,” continued Dr Ncube.
Story Source:
Adapted from materials provided by University of Bournemouth, via AlphaGalileo.
Journal Reference:
- Dr Ncube, BU, Patricia Oberndorf and Anatol W. Kark. Opportunistic Software Systems Development (OSSD): Making Systems from What%u2019s Available. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Software Journal, vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 38-41, Nov./Dec. 2008 DOI: 10.1109/MS.2008.153
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
