2.4 A Final Comment
It is only in the last few years that the ideas and methods described here have been put into action by the software industry. Much more still remains to be done, especially in view of the "cottage industry" mentality of many developers. It's not as if professionals don't recognize the problems of software design and development. In fact, many tools and techniques have been proposed with a fervor normally associated with evangelical rallies. Most of the early developments came from the data processing field, a trend that has continued with object-oriented (OO) technology. Unfortunately, these have little to offer for real-time work. Now, the sheer size of the software problem (time, cost, reliability, and so on) is acting as the driving force for the development of the following:
- New and better tools specifically designed for the real-time market
- Powerful, integrated development environments
- Design formality
- Defined documentation...
