Unsolved problems in software engineering

Unsolved problems in : Note: Use the unsolved tag: , where F is any field in the sciences: and X is a concise explanation with or without links. The appropriate category tag will automatically be added.

There is not a canonical list of unsolved problems in software engineering ; however, there are the following issues:

=Software Engineering Project Management=

*List of antipatterns, which might be thought of as statements of poor practice, in contradistinction to the list of design patterns *Poorly predictable relationship of project duration (project management) to program functionality *Systematic detection of software defects *Statistical tendency of project to run behind schedule and over-budget *Adding additional manpower to a lagging software project (especially in later parts of the project) may actually cause further schedule slippage due to overhead experienced during the integration of new employees. See The Mythical Man-Month.

=Programming Complexity=

*Current complexity of most programming languages, in general *Current complexity of most applications, to the extent that companies fail when programmers leave, if those companies have no one else who understands what the programmers have done.

=Standards (software)=

*Non-standard implementation of standards or specifications by multiple organizations result in a requirement for implementation specific code and special case exceptions as a necessity for cross-platform interoperability. Notable modern examples include web browser compatibility and web-services interoperability. *Arbitrariness of most software concepts, which is related to historical hardware and software implementation, lack of common standards worldwide, and economic pressures.