Professor Russel Winder wrote:
> The problem with all this is that I cannot see people doing proper experiments to
> really get at the variables and dimensions of this problem. Everything is by
> anecdote, belief and advocacy.
This made me wonder. Do we have any empirical evidence for the fundamental
principles of software engineering, such as abstraction, encapsulation,
polymorphism, and separation of concerns?
For example, the unconditional usefulness of abstraction is usually regarded
as indisputable fact. If you as much as question this dogma, you risk being
burnt at the stake. However, the only evidence I have been presented has
been based on advocacy, anecdote, and authority. An appealing thing about
Cognitive Dimensions is that it portrays a more nuanced, and in my opinion
more believable, picture of abstraction.
Has anybody ever studied the benefits of Design Patterns with the basic
scientific methods, such as comparing the performance of a group using
Design Patterns with a control group? Has anybody ever studied how
applicable Extreme Programming is to other environments and domains that
the small, fast-moving software environments it was developed for (has
it even been studied there)?
We tend to accept anecdotal evidence. If a methodology gives an
improvement in one area, we assume that it will give an improvement in
all other areas as well, without evaluating the premises of the
methodology or without considering effects such as negative transfer.
I am not saying that those principles are unfounded or without evidence,
just that I have never been presented to any scientific evidence.
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