Re: += in ada

["Robert I. Eachus" <rieachus@comcast.net>]

Vinzent 'Gadget' Hoefler wrote:

> Well, that doesn't really matter. The C zealots - at least the ones I
> know - claim one can write code with zero bugs in C when one is
> careful enough.
> 
> Well, one way or another, they're right, too. :->

Someday, I'll meet a C programmer that good. But I am not holding my breath.

A long time ago when I was at Stratus, we looked at the cost of 
"bug-free" code.  The first conclusion was that it was possible to 
improve code with less than one bug per 10,000 lines or so to the point 
where there were no known bugs and there was an expectation that there 
were no unknown bugs.  Code with about one known bug per 1000 lines was 
problematical.  There was no easy was to determine whether there was a 
way to remove all the bugs, including latent bugs, or if you were better 
starting over.

Stratus had a lot of PL/I code that was significantly better than the 
one bug per thousand lines criteria, and some that was worse, so we 
tended to use that number when deciding whether to upgrade for the next 
OS version or rewrite.  Most of the C code we had was closer to one 
known bug per 100 lines.  Fortunately most of it was in small drivers.
-- 
                                             Robert I. Eachus

"Quality is the Buddha. Quality is scientific reality. Quality is the 
goal of Art. It remains to work these concepts into a practical, 
down-to-earth context, and for this there is nothing more practical or 
down-to-earth than what I have been talking about all along...the repair 
of an old motorcycle."  -- from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle 
Maintenance by Robert Pirsig