From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,577df5d4a0e88785 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-01-03 11:49:41 PST Path: supernews.google.com!sn-xit-02!supernews.com!nntp-relay.ihug.net!ihug.co.nz!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.mathworks.com!cyclone.swbell.net!bos-service1.ext.raytheon.com!bos-service2.ext.raytheon.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3A538253.FBBA818A@ftw.rsc.raytheon.com> From: Wes Groleau X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.75 [en] (WinNT; U) X-Accept-Language: en,es,fr,pt MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Bad coding standards References: <91b9ma$bne$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <3A3E36C4.3466A19C@averstar.com> <3A3E5E7E.67817482@acm.org> <91o028$vp2$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <3A3F8E88.317C9FDB@acm.org> <3A40ACF8.9A35BAB8@acm.org> <8l306.14463$bw.1203427@news.flash.net> <3A428FE5.30747FF6@acm.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001 14:49:39 -0500 NNTP-Posting-Host: 151.168.144.162 X-Complaints-To: news@ext.ray.com X-Trace: bos-service2.ext.raytheon.com 978551380 151.168.144.162 (Wed, 03 Jan 2001 14:49:40 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001 14:49:40 EST Organization: Raytheon Company Xref: supernews.google.com comp.lang.ada:3621 Date: 2001-01-03T14:49:39-05:00 List-Id: > There are people in the world who are "Control Freaks" or who demand that "The > Law Is The Law!" and you often have to be careful about how they are going to > look at what you write down. Style *should* be something that is consistent and > details help, but you also want a lot of leeway to wiggle if there are reasons > to do so. IMHO, a reliable and properly functioning piece of software that is > delivered on time is more important than a really pretty piece of software that > doesn't work right and/or is late. Strict adherence to style does not > necessarily move the mission forward. The problem is when allowing "wiggle room" results in difficult-to-read-and-maintain software because certain people will not apply common sense--it has to be applied by force from outside. Our solution: Move a few of the "guidelines" bullets in AQS into "standards" bullets. Then define "standard" or "shall" as "non-compliance requires a waiver signed by _____" and define "guideline" or "should" as "non-compliance requires approval from a peer review team." We also significantly revised AQS. Some things we didn't agree with, others we thought unclear, and it was surprising how many examples were non-compliant. (Principle of technical writing--given an unambiguous requirement in prose and a non-binding example, if they disagree, the example will be followed.) -- Wes Groleau http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~wgroleau