End-user development: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 06:05, 2 April 2009

Revision as of 10:06, 2 April 2009

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| volume = 30

| issue = 4

| pages = 1-41–4

| publisher = [[Association for Computing Machinery|ACM]]

| issn = 0163-5948

| doi = 10.1145/1082983.1083241

| url = http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1082983.1083241

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===Security===

Commentators have been concerned that end users do not understand how to test and secure their applications. Warren Harrison, a professor of computer science at Portland State University, wrote:<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=01309636 |title= The Dangers of End-User Programming |last=Harrison |first=Warren |journal=IEEE Software | volume=21 | issue=4 | date=July/August 2004 | format=pdf | doi=10.1109/MS.2004.13 | accessdate=2009-03-02|pages=5 }}</ref>

<blockquote>It’s simply unfathomable that we could expect security... from the vast majority of software applications out there when they’re written with little, if any, knowledge of generally accepted good practices such as specifying before coding, systematic testing, and so on.... How many X for Complete Idiots (where “X” is your favorite programming language) books are out there? I was initially amused by this trend, but recently I’ve become uneasy thinking about where these dabblers are applying their newfound knowledge.</blockquote>

This viewpoint assumes that all end users are equally naive when it comes to understanding software, although Pliskin and Shoval argue this is not the case, that sophisticated end users are capable of end-user development.<ref name ACM_1987>{{cite journal |url=http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1017817 |first=Nava |last=Pliskin |coauthors=Shoval, Peretz |title=End-user prototyping: sophisticated users supporting system development |work=ACM SIGMIS Database |volume=4 |pages=7-177–17|year=1987|issn=0095-0033|doi=10.1145/1017816.1017817|accessdate=2008-05-29 |journal=ACM SIGMIS Database}}</ref>

In response to this, the study of '''end-user software engineering''' has emerged. It is concerned with issues beyond end-user development, whereby end-users become motivated to consider issues such as reusability, security and verifiability when developing their solutions.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://eusesconsortium.org/findings.php |title=End-User Software Engineering: Empirical Findings| publisher=End Users Shaping Effective Software Consortium | accessdate=2008-05-28 }}</ref>