
In memory of Ed Yourdon - ingve
http://thedulinreport.com/2016/01/23/in-memory-of-ed-yourdon/
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fencepost
I'd say that his book Death March is also important and worth a read. A death
march project doesn't have to be a corporate or government one that's too big,
disorganized, compressed or underfunded to succeed. A death march can also be
a startup that has a year of runway and 9 months of development needed even if
everything goes right - because releasing your product the day you miss
payroll still leaves you dead.

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vram22
True. Been there, seen that. More startups should realize this, instead of
carrying on with all their hype and self-glorification.

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SloopJon
I read a lot of computer books after college, many of which Ed wrote, edited,
or wrote the foreword for. As a fan of _Code Complete_ and its book
recommendations, I suggested that Ed add it to his own list of "cool books."
He replied promptly and agreed.

Although I didn't read it from cover to cover, the chapters I read from a
borrowed copy of _Structured Design_ on coupling and cohesion had a big impact
on me.

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manaskarekar
Wow, I didn't even realize I was following the same Ed Yourdon on flickr.

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/](https://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/)

RIP, sorry to hear of the loss.

~~~
Outdoorsman
His photos are indeed worth look...amazing multi-talented man...possibly one
of the very first polymaths I ever met in person...

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Outdoorsman
Worked at DeVry briefly on a gig way back when and Ed was on-board...brilliant
R&D mind...Bell & Howell most definitely got their money's worth...

Had lunch with a few of us coders one day--he paid--and kept us all mesmerized
by laying out paths we could take to keep our talents in play on a business
level...turned out to be sound advice...

Considered him amazing...one of the most pleasant and "giving" men I've ever
met

RIP, Ed...

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arjn
Could you elaborate on what Ed said to you ?

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IvyMike
Death March by Ed Yourdon literally changed my life--I quit my job not long
after reading it, moving on to much better things. Rest in peace, Ed.

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aryehof
Ed Yourdon's early books with Peter Coad on object oriented analysis and
design together with his book "Death March", had great influence on me and on
my career. I'm saddened to hear of his death, but celebrate his life and his
contribution to our field. My thoughts and best wishes to his family and those
fortunate to have known him.

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dreamcompiler
Ed was instrumental in helping my company look into potential Y2K
vulnerabilities. It was Ed's book (Time Bomb 2000) that made me want to
investigate Y2K in the first place, so I hired Ed as a consultant. Turned out
there were no significant looming disasters, but there could have been some
problems if we hadn't investigated and made corrections. Ed's advice was very
useful, and he was a joy to work with. He will be missed.

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nickpsecurity
Still have to finish reading his Just Enough System's Analysis book. Hope it's
still relevant enough. His methods are still in use in some places. Tenix's
EAL7 Data Diode used Yourdon Method in development.

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13of40
STTL. Some of his books were so ubiquitous at Microsoft in the early 2000s I
thought they were published by MS Press.

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ojbyrne
I met Ed while at digg.com. Good man, enjoyed his books, and followed his
photography on flickr. Makes me sad.

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wsc981
At university I had to study one of his books, but I personally didn't like it
at all - it did't click with me. The book was mainly about an iterative
development system IIRC.

Still, RIP, apparantly a lot of people here liked his books.

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vram22
He had a lot of influence on software in India too, from the early years.

RIP Ed.

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flormmm
Sad news. RIP Ed and thanks for all the books.

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msie
Surely he deserves a black bar?

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mkempe
I think knowledge of his work is for the most part split by generations.

Other influential people in computer science and software engineering have
recently passed away, without any black bar. I think even a Turing Award is
not enough to qualify. Some of their fundamental contributions to CS and SE
reach back to the 60s and even the 50s.

For people who weren't writing software in the 70s, 80s or 90s -- how would
they have known Ed and his work?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Yourdon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Yourdon)

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setpatchaddress
Some of us who were there at the time didn't appreciate his contributions, to
be honest. Was there anything he was correct about in the long term?

(I'm not asking rhetorically, I'm genuinely curious. I read "Decline of the
American Programmer" at the time it came out, thought it was total rubbish,
and didn't bother to read anything else he wrote. Did I miss out?)

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mikestew
That was the first Yourdon book I read (still have the hard-cover around
somewhere), and because of that it was the last. I had the same impression as
you: "sky is falling" garbage, and time has vindicated those of us who thought
so. I know _of_ Yourdon and can understand the general appreciation of the
man, but because the first impression was last, I just never pursued the rest
of his writing. Petty of me, I know, but there's always been a stack of other
CS-related books that needed reading.

