Эдвард Наш Йордон: Бағдарламалық инженерияның ірі тұлғасы

American software engineer and pioneer in the software engineering methodology

Edward Nash Yourdon (April 30, 1944 – January 20, 2016) was an American software engineer, computer consultant, author and lecturer, and software engineering methodology pioneer. He was one of the lead developers of the structured analysis techniques of the 1970s and a co developer of both the Yourdon/Whitehead method for object oriented analysis/design in the late 1980s and the Coad/Yourdon methodology for object oriented analysis/design in the 1990s.

Yourdon obtained his B. S. in applied mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1965, and did graduate work in electrical engineering and computer science at MIT and the Polytechnic Institute of New York. In 1964 Yourdon started working at Digital Equipment Corporation developing FORTRAN programs for the PDP 5 minicomputer and later assembler for the PDP 8. In the late 1960s and early 1970s he worked at a small consulting firm and as an independent consultant. In 1974 Yourdon founded his own consulting firm, YOURDON Inc., to provide educational, publishing, and consulting services. In December 1999 Crosstalk: The Journal of Defense Software Engineering named him one of the ten most influential people in the software field. In the late 1990s, Yourdon became the center of controversy over his beliefs that Y2K related computer problems could result in severe software failures that would culminate in widespread social collapse. Due to the efforts of Yourdon and thousands of dedicated technologists, developers and project managers, these potential critical system failure points were successfully remediated, thus avoiding the problems Yourdon and others identified early enough to make a difference. In the new millennium, Yourdon became Faculty Fellow at the Information Systems Research Center of the University of North Texas as well as Fellow of the Business Technology Trends Council for the Cutter Consortium, where he also was editor of the Cutter IT Journal.

After developing structured analysis techniques of the 1970s, and object oriented analysis/design in the late 1980s and 1990s, in the new millennium Yourdon specialized in project management, software engineering methodologies, and Web 2.0 development. He also founded and published American Programmer magazine (now titled Cutter IT Journal). He is the author of the book Decline and Fall of the American Programmer.

During the late 1990s, he was one of the leading proponents of the theory that the 'Y2K bug' could lead to a collapse of civilization, or at least protracted economic depression and technological breakdown on a wide scale. He wrote several books on the subject, including Time Bomb 2000 , and produced at least one video putting forth that theory (and offering advice on how to survive the coming crisis). Yourdon was criticized by some when his predictions (vigorously refuted by some experts in advance) failed to materialize at the scale predicted. This may have caused him to lose credibility with some in the software industry.

In his final years, Yourdon served as an internationally recognized expert witness and computer consultant specializing in project management, software engineering methodologies, and Web 2.0 development. He died on January 20, 2016, as a result of a post surgical blood infection.

Yourdon was married to Toni Nash. He had three children; daughter Jennifer, and sons Jamie and David. He also had five grandchildren; Liam Christopher, Owen Edward, Edward Roland ("Teddy"), Elliot ("Ellie") Ann, and Khalil Slice. Yourdon had five sisters; Toni, Teri, Tina, Aleda, and Patrice. Yourdon was also an avid photographer whose photos were published in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Forbes, Time/CNN, The New York Observer, New York magazine, Wired, and the Huffington Post.

Yourdon authored over 550 technical articles and authored or coauthored 26 computer books since 1967. A selection:
1967. Real Time Systems Design. Information & Systems Press. 1972. Design of On Line Computer Systems. Prentice Hall. 1975. Techniques of Program Structure and Design. Prentice Hall. 1976. Learning to Program in Structured COBOL, Part I and II. With C. Gane and T. Sarson and T. Lister. Prentice Hall. 1978. Learning to Program in Structured COBOL, Part II. With Timothy Lister. Prentice Hall. 1979. Classics in Software Engineering Prentice Hall. 1982. Writings of the Revolution. Prentice Hall. 1988. Managing the System Life Cycle. 2nd ed. Prentice Hall. 1989. Modern Structured Analysis. Prentice Hall. 1992. Decline and Fall of the American Programmer. Prentice Hall. 1994. Object Oriented Systems Development: An Integrated Approach. Prentice Hall. 1996. Case Studies in Object Oriented Analysis and Design. With Carl Argila. Prentice Hall. 1996. Rise and Resurrection of the American Programmer. Prentice Hall. 1997. Death March: The Complete Software Developer's Guide to Surviving "Mission Impossible" Projects. Prentice Hall. 1999. The Complete Y2K Home Preparation Guide. With Robert Roskind. Prentice Hall. 1999. Time Bomb 2000: What the Y2K Computer Crisis means for you!'. With Jennifer Yourdon. Prentice Hall. 1999. The Y2K Financial Survival Guide. With Jennifer Yourdon and Peter G. Gordon. Prentice Hall. 2001. Managing High Intensity Internet Projects. Prentice Hall
2002. Byte Wars: The Impact of September 11 on Information Technology. Prentice Hall
2003. Death March (2nd edition). Prentice Hall
2004. Outsourcing: Competing in the Global Productivity Race''. Prentice Hall