Second-system_effect Second-system_effect

Second-system effect - Definition and Overview

In computing, the Second-system effect or sometimes, more euphoniously, second-system syndrome is when one is designing the successor to a relatively small, elegant, and successful system, there is a tendency to become grandiose in one's success and design an elephantine feature-laden monstrosity. The term was first used by Fred Brooks in his classic The Mythical Man-Month. It described the jump from a set of simple operating systems on the IBM 70xx series to OS/360 on the 360 series. A similar effect can also happen in an evolving system; see Brooks' law, creeping elegance, creeping featurism.

See also

References

This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, which is licensed under the GFDL.

Copyright 2009 WordIQ.com - Privacy Policy  :: Terms of Use  :: Contact Us  :: About Us
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the this Wikipedia article.