Edward Yourdon

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Edward Yourdon

Born April 30, 1944 (1944-04-30) (age 65)
Fields Computer science
Institutions YOURDON Inc., Cutter Consortium
Known for Structured programming and Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method

Edward Nash Yourdon (born 30 April 1944) is an American software engineer, computer consultant, author and lecturer, and a recognized pioneer in the software engineering methodology. He is widely known as the lead developer of the Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method (SSADM) of the 1970s, as well as co-developer of the Yourdon/Whitehead method of object-oriented analysis/design and the popular Coad/Yourdon OO methodology of the late 1980s and 1990s.[1]

Contents

[edit] Biography

Yourdon received a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from MIT in 1965; he has carried out graduate work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at the Polytechnic Institute of New York.

He has worked in the computer industry over 35 years, beginning with Digital Equipment Corporation in 1964 where he wrote the FORTRAN math library for the PDP-5 and the assembler for the popular PDP-8 minicomputer. After stints with DEC and GE, a small consulting firm, and a few years as an independent consultant, Yourdon founded his own consulting firm, YOURDON Inc., in 1974, in order to provide educational, publishing, and consulting services in state-of-the-art software engineering technology, which was eventually sold in 1986.[1] In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of iGate Corp, Yourdon has also served on the Defense Department’s Airlie Council, an advisory group that focused on finding “best practice” guidelines and techniques for large, complex projects throughout the 1990s.

Yourdon is currently a Faculty Fellow at the Information Systems Research Center of the University of North Texas, and was an advisor to Technology Transfer’s research project on software industry opportunities in the former Soviet Union, and a member of the expert advisory panel on I-CASE acquisition for the U.S. Department of Defense in the early 1990s. He is also a Fellow of the Business Technology Trends Council for the Cutter Consortium, of which he is a co-founder and chairman, and he serves as Editor Emeritus of the Consortium’s flagship publication, the Cutter IT Journal.[2]

The December 1999 issue of Crosstalk: The Journal of Defense Software Engineering, named Yourdon one of the ten most influential people in the software field.[3] In June 1997, he was inducted into the Computer Hall of Fame, along with such notables as Charles Babbage, Seymour Cray, James Martin, Grace Hopper, Gerald Weinberg, and Bill Gates.

[edit] Work

He founded and published American Programmer magazine (now titled Cutter IT Journal). He is the author of the book Decline and Fall of the American Programmer.

[edit] YOURDON Inc.

Yourdon founded YOURDON INC. in 1974 and over the next 12 years, the company grew to a staff of over 150 people, with offices throughout North America and Europe; as CEO of the company, he oversaw an operation that trained over 250,000 people around the world in structured programming, structured design, structured analysis, logical data modeling, and project management. YOURDON Inc. was eventually sold in 1986 and after several more mergers and acquisitions, eventually became part of CGI, the French software company that is now part of IBM.[1]

[edit] Yourdon Structured Method

In the 1980s Yourdon developed the Yourdon Structured Method (YSM) in SSADM based on the functional structuring. The method supports two distinct design phases: analysis and design. YSM includes three discrete steps: the feasibility study; essential modeling; and implementation modeling.[4] It offers a series of models:[5]

  • The behavioral model: states that system behavior can be described in three ways: Functions, dynamics and relationships.
  • The processor environment model (PEM): describes the allocation of computing functions in processor hardware.
  • The software environment model (SEM): defines the software architecture and its effects from each processor.
  • The code organizational model (COM): shows the modular structure of each task

The Yourdon Structured Method (YSM) and Structured Analysis and Design Technique (SADT) are examples of structured design methods.

[edit] Year 2000 problem

During the late 1990s, he was one of the leading proponents of the theory that the 'Y2K Bug' could lead to a collapse of civilization, or at least protracted economic depression and technological breakdown on a wide scale. He wrote several books on the subject, including Time Bomb 2000 (ISBN 0-13-020519-2), and produced at least one video putting forth that theory (and offering advice on how to survive the coming crisis).

Yourdon currently serves as an internationally-recognized expert witness and computer consultant who specializes in project management, software engineering methodologies, and Web 2.0 development.

[edit] Publications

Yourdon has authored over 550 technical articles and authored or coauthored 26 computer books since 1967. A selection:

  • 1967. Real-Time Systems Design. Information & Systems Press.
  • 1972. Design of On-Line Computer Systems. Prentice Hall.
  • 1975. Techniques of Program Structure and Design. Prentice Hall.
  • 1976. Learning to Program in Structured COBOL, Part I and II. With C. Gane and T. Sarson and T. Lister. Prentice Hall.
  • 1978. Learning to Program in Structured COBOL, Part II. With Timothy Lister. Prentice Hall.
  • 1979. Structured Design. with Larry Constantine. Prentice Hall.
  • 1979. Classics in Software Engineering . Prentice Hall.
  • 1982. Writings of the Revolution. Prentice Hall.
  • 1988. Managing the System Life Cycle. 2nd ed. Prentice Hall.
  • 1989. Modern Structured Analysis. Prentice Hall.
  • 1994. Decline and Fall of the American Programmer. Prentice Hall.
  • 1994. Object-Oriented Systems Development: An Integrated Approach. Prentice Hall.
  • 1996. Case Studies in Object-Oriented Analysis and Design. With Carl Argila. Prentice-Hall.
  • 1999. The Complete Y2K Home Preparation Guide. With Robert Roskind. Prentice Hall.
  • 2001. Managing High-Intensity Internet Projects. Prentice Hall
  • 2002. Byte Wars: The Impact of September 11 on Information Technology. Prentice Hall
  • 2003. Death March (2nd edition). Prentice Hall
  • 2004. Outsourcing: Competing in the Global Productivity Race. Prentice Hall

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Biography. Accessed 14 Nov 2008.
  2. ^ Cutter IT Journal website. Accessed 17 Nov 2008.
  3. ^ Yourdon CV, 2007, revision 51407, retrieved online: 2009-05-16
  4. ^ Alan M. Davis, Marilyn D. Weidner (1993). Software Requirements: Objects, Functions, and States. Page 486.
  5. ^ Jim Cooling (2003). Software Engineering for Real-time Systems. p.510-517.
 This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2008)
(Find sources: Edward Yourdon – news, books, scholar)

[edit] External links

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