Guest post by Julianne Beall
Recently multiple updates to the computer science schedule were published in WebDewey. The core changes were to 005 Software development, software, data, security, but there were matching changes in terminology across 004-006 Computer science; software development, software, data; special computer methods—and other places where notation is added from 004-006.
Previously, the DDC pattern was to treat "software development" and "computer programming" as rough synonyms. To follow current usage, that has changed. The new treatment is explained at the start of a new Manual note:
005.1 vs. 005.13 Software development vs. Computer programming
"Software development" is the phrase currently used to comprise the entire sequence of activities between the definition of requirements for a software product and the implementation of that product in a working environment, while "computer programming" refers especially to one activity in that sequence, the creation of the software product. This narrow sense of "computer programming" comprises such steps as generating pseudocode to meet software requirements, identifying algorithms to carry out the program's logic, and especially the coding of the algorithms in a programming language. Previously, however, the phrase "computer programming" was often used to refer to a larger array of activities, including, for example, testing, debugging, and producing external program documentation.
Changes to the schedules and Relative Index support the new approach. For example, the caption for 005.1 was changed from "Programming" to "Software development," and the caption for 005.13 was changed from "Programming languages" to "Computer programming." The class-here note at 005.13 Computer programming names two topics previously classed in 005.13 ("coding of programs; programming languages") plus "computer algorithms"; the latter topic was previously in a class-here note at 005.1. An example of a work previously classed in 005.1 that now would be classed in 005.13 Computer programming is Understanding coding by building algorithms. An example of a work that still belongs in 005.1 Software development is Software development and professional practice.
The updates also include some new subdivisions of 005.1 Software development, e.g., 005.1112 Agile software development. An example of a work that can be classed in the new number is Agile software development: Current research and future directions.
Except at the general level of works classed in 005.1+, software development and computer programming are still classed in the same number; the caption now has "software development," but there are two Relative Index entries, one for software development and one for programming. For example, the record for 005.26 Software development for personal computers has two Relative Index entries:
Personal computers--programming
Personal computers--software development
The term "software" has been substituted in place of "program" (meaning computer program) in most places throughout 004-006, e.g., at 005.3 Software.
Details of Updates
To find all the details in 004-006 associated with this change, click the Updates button in WebDewey, then enter date range: start 2019-08-13, end 2019-09-05, and notations: 004 to 007.
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