I used to be the kind who would disagree vociferously, but I've evolved since then.

The sense in which program development is similar to evolution is somewhere between the level of detail you describe here and the very general "things change". The driving imperative in evolution is "adapt or perish". Of course, that's true of anything geared to a marketplace, and evolutionary design might just as well be termed "market-driven design".

According to this article on the topic, "evolutionary design" is meaningful as a contrast to "planned design". In the latter, you design, then you code to spec. In the former, both are ongoing processes. If you object to the use of "evolutionary", you might prefer Just-In-Time programming for a similar concept: programs are written and changed in response to demand, rather than in far-sighted anticipation of it.

In reply to Re: (OT) Evolutionary Design?? by Roy Johnson
in thread (OT) Evolutionary Design?? by Anonymous Monk

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