Reconsidering End-User Development Definitions

Abstract

We consider definitions that End-User Development and related fields offer for end-user developers, and identify the persistence of viewing end-user development as antithetical to professional development across the years, even as focus has shifted from the identity and then to the role of the developer, and later to the intent of the development effort. We trace the origins of this antithesis to the days of End-User Computing in organizational settings, and argue that modern software development resides in a different paradigm, where end-user Development is part and parcel of any programming endeavour, in professional or other settings. We propose that current development practice, both for those traditionally regarded as end-user and as professional developers, can be better served by EUD as a field, if the focus is shifted to the nature of the task itself, and how technical it needs to be, by way of the platforms that development takes place on.