J.Phys.Conf.Ser. 396 (2012) 052018
by: Carminati, Federico (CERN)
Abstract:
High Energy Physics (HEP) has been making very extensive usage of computers to achieve its research goals. Fairly large program suites have been developed, maintained and used over the years and it is fair to say that, overall, HEP has been successful in software development. Yet, HEP software development has not used classical Software Engineering techniques, which have been invented and refined to help the production of large programmes. In this paper we will review the development of HEP code with its strengths and weaknesses. Using several well-known HEP software projects as examples, we will try to demonstrate that our community has used a form of Software Engineering, albeit in an informal manner. The software development techniques employed in these projects are indeed very close in many aspects to the modern tendencies of Software Engineering itself, in particular the so-called agile technologies. The paper will conclude with an outlook on the future of software development in HEP.