Large-scale complex IT systems

Ian Sommerville; Dave Cliff; Radu Calinescu; Justin Keen; Tim Kelly; Marta Kwiatkowska; John McDermid; Richard Paige

doi:10.1145/2209249.2209268

Large-scale complex IT systems

Ian Sommerville, Dave Cliff, Radu Calinescu, Justin Keen, Tim Kelly, Marta Kwiatkowska, John McDermid, Richard Paige

School of Computer Science

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This paper explores the issues around the construction of large-scale complex systems which are built as 'systems of systems' and suggests that there are fundamental reasons, derived from the inherent complexity in these systems, why our current software engineering methods and techniques cannot be scaled up to cope with the engineering challenges of constructing such systems. It then goes on to propose a research and education agenda for software engineering that identifies the major challenges and issues in the development of large-scale complex, software-intensive systems. Central to this is the notion that we cannot separate software from the socio-technical environment in which it is used.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	71-77
Number of pages	7
Journal	Communications of the ACM
Volume	55
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/2209249.2209268
Publication status	Published - Jul 2012

Keywords

Complex systems
Systems engineering

Access to Document

10.1145/2209249.2209268

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© ACM, 2012. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Communications of the ACM, doi:10.1145/2209249.2209268
Accepted author manuscript, 334 KB

LSCITS-RPv2 EP/F001096/1: LSCITS EPSRC Grant
Sommerville, I. (PI)
EPSRC
1/10/07 → 30/06/13
Project: Standard
EPSRC - (INDEED) INTERDISCIPLINARY DESIG: Interdisciplinary design and evaluation of dependability (INDEED)
Sommerville, I. (PI)
EPSRC
1/12/06 → 28/02/11
Project: Standard

Cite this

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AU - Calinescu, Radu

AU - Keen, Justin

AU - Kelly, Tim

AU - Kwiatkowska, Marta

AU - McDermid, John

AU - Paige, Richard

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Large-scale complex IT systems

Abstract

Keywords

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Projects

LSCITS-RPv2 EP/F001096/1: LSCITS EPSRC Grant

EPSRC - (INDEED) INTERDISCIPLINARY DESIG: Interdisciplinary design and evaluation of dependability (INDEED)

Cite this