Social aspects, Large scale program, Norway, System development
Abstract
The paper discusses social aspects of large scale program and system development, with main emphasis on "social" in the meaning "societal". Informatics is defined as a science studying "information processes and related phenomena", information processes being e.g. program executions by computers and information processing in offices, carried out jointly by people and computers. "Related phenomena" are program and system development, the tools available and restrictins imposed upon program development, the knowledge-building processes etc. The concepts of "process", "structure" and "system" are discussed and used in this context. The notion of "perspective" is introduced and used to characterize programming styles, attitudes towards program development and levels of emphasis in the study of program development. Agreements and laws regulating system development in Norway are described, and the participation of employees is treated in this context.
