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Module 1: Introduction & SDLC

20262m

Brooks' "No Silver Bullet" argument primarily concerns the difficulty of reducing

(i) Hardware cost
(ii) Compilation time
(iii) Essential complexity of software
(iv) Database size

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Solution

Correct Answer: (iii) Essential complexity of software

Explanation

In his paper "No Silver Bullet" (1986), Fred Brooks separates software difficulty into:

  • Accidental complexity - caused by tools, languages and methods; technology can reduce it.
  • Essential complexity - inherent in the problem itself (complexity, conformity, changeability, invisibility).

His argument: no single technique can give an order-of-magnitude improvement in productivity, because the hard part is the essential complexity of the problem, not the tools.

Why other options are incorrect:

  • (i) Hardware cost and (iv) Database size - not part of Brooks' argument.
  • (ii) Compilation time - a tool-level (accidental) issue.

Answer: (iii) Essential complexity of software

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