Archie - A Darwinian development process
Archie - A Darwinian development process
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DOI：
10.1109/4236.815865
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发表时间：
2000-01-01
影响因子：
3.2
通讯作者：
Deutsch, P
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Deutsch, P
我是一个由系统管理员和研究生组成的小团队的经理，他们开发和运营了Archie服务，这是第一个基于互联网的搜索引擎。我回顾了我们在一个温和的试验性开发项目的生命周期中学到的一些教训。阿奇系统的种子是在1987年播下的，当时蒙特利尔麦吉尔大学计算机科学学院的教职员工要求我的团队调查将学校连接到互联网的可能性。我们最初的任务是以较低的成本访问已经连接的特定研究中心，前提是我们可以在不影响现有运营的情况下这样做。会议没有讨论开发基于互联网的搜索工具。事后看来，最初的任务似乎确实不大；但适度的期望、有限的资源以及反复研究和发布的“达尔文式的发展过程”可能会带来创造性的解决方案。更重要的是，这种研究环境不是以目标为导向的，而是以过程为导向的--在这种环境中，即使是研究生系统经理也可以不受干扰地追求他的研究兴趣，前提是他和他的团队完成了他们的基本任务。
I was the manager of the small team of systems administrators and graduate students that developed and operated the Archie service, the first Internet-based search engine. I reflect upon some of the lessons we learned during the life-cycle of what began as a modest experimental development project. The seeds for the Archie system were sown in 1987, when faculty at McGill University's School of Computer Science in Montreal asked my team to investigate the possibility of connecting the school to the Internet. Our initial mandate was to provide less expensive access to specific research centers that were already connected, provided we could do so without impacting existing operations. There was no discussion of developing Internet-based search tools. In hindsight, that initial mandate seems modest indeed; but modest expectations, limited resources and a "Darwinian development process" of repeated research and release can lead to creative solutions. More importantly, this research environment was not goal-oriented, but rather process-oriented-an environment in which even a graduate student systems manager was allowed to pursue his research interests without interference, provided he and his team fulfilled their basic mandate.