Re: Is strong typing worth the cost?

[Brian.Gaffney@myrealbox.com (Brian Gaffney)]

dmjones <derek@NOSPAMknosof.co.uk> wrote in message news:<Xns9201F90F50C5derekknosofcouk@62.253.162.108>...
 . . .
> Frank Bearcd, tmoran:  Safe & correct is everything.
> 
> Me:  Making a profit is everything.
> 
 . . .
> 
> I see strong typing as a tool for cost reduction in acheiving
> a specified level of software reliability.  Nothing more.
> 
> Jim Rogers:  What are the parameters of cost?
> 
> Me:  Money.  Developers time (original development, subsequent
> maintenance), lost business opportunities being late to market
> (finding staff with necessary skills, additional lead time in
> getting it 'more right').  Plus lots of other things.

It sounds like the question you originally asked will not get you what
you're looking for, and no one here can (directly) answer what you
need.  What you really need to do is find out what costs _you_ money
and what you can do to reduce costs for _your_ software, developers,
processes, etc.  If you can show what percentage of bugs you see are
caused by (your definition of) this issue, you would know you're on
the right track.  However, in that case, you'd probably also have the
answer you're looking for.  You may also find other things that can be
more useful.

If you're looking for ammunition to push for strong typing, any
evidence you get from (us) 'Ada zealots' may not be too effective
(especially to 'C programmers'):-)  I think you would still need to
get evidence based on your own software, or at least domain.  You may
also want to look on Comp.Software-Eng.