The programmer's workbench—a machine for software development

Abstract

On almost all software development projects the assumption is made that the program development function will be done on the same machine on which the eventual system will run. It is only when this production machine is unavailable or when its programming environment is totally inadequate that alternatives are considered. In this paper it is suggested that there are many other situations where it would be advantageous to separate the program development and maintenance function onto a specialized computer which is dedicated to that purpose. Such a computer is here called a Programmer's Workbench. The four basic sections of the paper introduce the subject, outline the general concept, discuss areas where such an approach may prove beneficial, and describe an operational system utilizing this concept.