Programming the Universe: The First Commandment of Software Engineering for all Varieties of Information Systems

TL;DR

This paper proposes a set of universal laws and the first commandment of software engineering aimed at guiding the development of all types of information systems, addressing the limitations of previous guidelines.

Contribution

It introduces a new universal framework and the first commandment of software engineering applicable across all information systems, expanding beyond traditional scope.

Findings

Universal laws for software engineering proposed

First commandment established for all information systems

Guidelines aim to improve software development success

Abstract

Since the early days of computers and programs, the process and outcomes of software development has been a minefield plagued with problems and failures, as much as the complexity and complication of software and its development has increased by a thousandfold in half a century. Over the years, a number of theories, laws, best practices, manifestos and methodologies have emerged, with varied degrees of (un)success. Our experience as software engineers of complex and large-scale systems shows that those guidelines are bound to previously defined and often narrow scopes. Enough is enough. Nowadays, nearly every company is in the software and services business and everything is - or is managed by - software. It is about time, then, that the laws that govern our universe ought to be redefined. In this context, we discuss and present a set of universal laws that leads us to propose the first commandment of software engineering for all varieties of information systems.