Does Your Software Creak as It Runs?

Abstract

We are often so overwhelmed with the difficulty of writing logically correct software that we tend to underplay or even ignore the influence of the underlying computing platform. In some cases, this negligence has been raised to the level of a design principle, based on a dangerously naive interpretation of the idea of “platform independence”. After all, it is the platform that gives life to our logic and, as we demonstrate, its effect on software can be profound. We argue that software is not as far removed from physics as many imagine (or hope), that quantity can affect quality, and that, paradoxically, true platform independence cannot be achieved unless the platform is properly factored into design. We then outline a general approach that addresses this issue and show how it can be realized with UML.