Re: Quality (Re: status of PL/I as a viable language)

["Marin David Condic" <mcondic.auntie.spam@acm.org>]

Anders Wirzenius <anders.wirzenius@pp.qnet.fi> wrote in message
news:c2Z6a.27$bW6.8@read3.inet.fi...
>
> Product here means finished product, right?

Maybe. Maybe it means "an executable image that is capable of undergoing
test". You do some programming. You produce an image. You conduct some
tests. You find some bugs. Go back to the beginning. If you found zero bugs,
that saves you time and money, correct? It means that what you built is of
high quality.


> My posting was an attempt to describe the words "build in quality".

Which I think has to come from proper design and proper processes. Its no
different from a widget manufacturer with his assembly line. The design of
the widget has to be sufficient for its task and the assembly line & tools
used there have to accurately realize that design. When the widget comes out
of any phase of the assembly line and is inspected, finding an error in it
then is not "built in quality".


> When you are building something you have always something _half done_. To
build in quality means to me that you convince yourself
> that this _half done_ is on the right track. The key question is: how do
you do the convincing?
>
I'm not sure what you mean by "half done" here? You are suggesting that the
iterative "code/compile/test/debug" cycle is just a natural part of building
software and finding bugs in that cycle doesn't count towards poor quality?
I think that this would not be a very helpful view in terms of developing
"quality" products because it implies that rework is O.K. Rework always
implies that you are building something poorly and always implies additional
expense. Most industries recognize that the sooner you catch something and
eliminate the problem, the cheaper it is to fix. They also accept that if
you don't put the defect into the product, it doesn't cost you anything to
take it out. Hence the notion of "built in quality"

MDC
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Marin David Condic
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