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Components subindustry is a manufacturing metaphor: McIlroy believed that software production could be improved by the availability of high quality, off-the-shelf components, in much the same way that manufacturing had been helped by the existence of standardized screws, resistors, and subassemblies.
After giving reasons why he thought such an industry had not yet developed
- and what it would take to bring one about -
McIlroy offered his vision of the future:
I would like to see components become a dignified branch of
software engineering.
I would like to see standard catalogues of routines....
I want to have confidence
in the quality of the routines....
I want the different types of routine in the catalogue
that are similar in purpose to be engineered uniformly,
so that two similar routines
should be available with similar options.
C++ Standard Components is our answer to McIlroy's vision.