Software Entropy

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The second law of thermodynamics, in principle, states that a closed system's disorder cannot be reduced, it can only increase or possibly remain unchanged. A measure of this disorder is entropy. This law also seems plausible for software systems; a system's disorder, or entropy, always increases. We can call this software entropy (See Jacobson (1992))

Within software development, there are similar theories; see Lehman (1985), who suggested a number of laws, of which two were, basically, as follows:

(1) A computer program that is used will be modified
(2) When a program is modified, its complexity will increase, provided that one does not actively work against this

[edit] Sources

• Page 69 of Object-Oriented Software Engineering by Ivar Jacobson (1992)

• Lehman M.M. and Belady L. (1985). Program Evolution. Process of Software Change. London: Academic

• http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/s/software_entropy.htm

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