Re: Business Week (12/6/99 issue) article on Software Quality

[Richard D Riehle <laoXhai@ix.netcom.com>]

>"Michael P. Card" <houseofcards@surfree.com> writes:
>| I do not know if any of you have seen the 12/6
>| issue of Business Week, but it has a
>| feature article on poor software quality. This

I have sent the following letter to the editor at Business Week.

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Software development is the only engineering wannabee that euphemizes its mistakes with the cutsey monicker,
"bug."  The IEEE has suggested a three level designation starting with "mistake/error", that produces a software
"defect" which causes an run-time error.  We are still a long way from an engineering view of software in practice. 
Our methods are antiquated, our most commonly used programming languages are characterized by their
brittleness, and our education of software developers is archaic.  There is some hope on the horizon.  An
increasing number of universities are offering graduate programs in software engineering.  Reliability-oriented
programming languages such as Ada and Eiffel are becoming more frequently used for safety-critical software. 
Consumers, including corporate software users, are becoming more astute about the kinds of questions they ask
reagarding the quality issue.  Most commercial software developers are so devoted to the financial bottom line,
they focus on forcing their customers to upgrade to marginally useful "neat" features rather than pay attention to
quality.  Many of the larger software publishers think "great" software consists of features reminiscent of  the tail
fins and excess chrome found on U.S. automobiles circa 1958-1975.  Software development for Department of
Defense weapon systems has been the exception.  The bottom line for a missile is life or death.  Engineering
becomes more important than programming.  A pilot engaging air-to-air missile countermeasures would not be
pleased to see a "Blue Screen" message, "Sorry. System Error. Please Reboot."   The Business Week article
mentions the Boeing 777, a product programmed almost entirely in Ada.  This project exemplifies the benefits of
the engineering discipline originally applied in the development of military weapon systems.  The value of Ada in
creating DoD weapon systems is a seldom told story.  If one reads the disclaminer on the back of the envelope in
which commercial software is packaged, they will see that the software publisher is responsible only for the quality
of the media on which the product was delivered.  The product itself is not guaranteed, not warrantable, not
necessarily going to work as  advertised.   What other manufacturer could get away with this?

Richard Riehle, Suite 30, 2555 Park Boulevard, Palo Alto, CA  94306   (650) 328-1815   richard@adaworks.com