Software Entropy

A Software Entropy is an entropy measure for a software system.

• See: Technical Debt, Software Engineering, Second Law of Thermodynamics, Closed System, Randomness, Software Development, Computer Program, Fixing Broken Windows.

---

---

References

2015

• (Wikipedia, 2015) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/software_entropy Retrieved:2015-9-24.
  • A work on software engineering by Ivar Jacobson et al. describes software entropy as follows: :The second law of thermodynamics, in principle, states that a closed system's disorder cannot be reduced, it can only remain unchanged or increased. A measure of this disorder is entropy. This law also seems plausible for software systems; as a system is modified, its disorder, or entropy, always increases. This is known as software entropy. :Within software development, there are similar theories; see Lehman (1985), who suggested a number of laws, of which two were, basically, as follows:
    1. A computer program that is used will be modified
    2. When a program is modified, its complexity will increase, provided that one does not actively work against this.
  • Andrew Hunt and David Thomas use Fixing Broken Windows as a metaphor for avoiding software entropy in software development.

    The process of code refactoring can result in stepwise reductions in software entropy.

    Software entropy is increased with accumulation of technical debt.

---