From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.5-pre1 (2020-06-20) on ip-172-31-74-118.ec2.internal X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.0 required=3.0 tests=BAYES_40 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.5-pre1 Date: 3 Jul 91 18:27:28 GMT From: aio!gwharvey@eos.arc.nasa.gov (Greg Harvey) Subject: Re: Is CM important? (was: Use pragma INLINE or not?) Message-ID: List-Id: In <15645@encore.Encore.COM> jcallen@Encore.COM (Jerry Callen) writes: [previous letter stuff edited out here.] >Don't drop it, but please make sure that you DO find time to teach something >about CM. How many disasters could have been avoided if: >- All of the source had been under CM? >- The CM system could have easily recreated a particular collection of > source modules? >- A good makefile existed? >- Some regression testing had been done? >Having a brilliantly crafted design doesn't help if the design disappears >into the bit bucket because of an error with an editor, or a system crash, >or some other problem that computer systems and users are all too prone to. >It's hard to appreciate the value of a good CM system until you have used one. >No, I don't mean RCS and make; they're useful tools, but they are just >pieces of what should be a larger system. Personal experience time: I walked into a company (who shall remain nameless) where a group of programmers were working on a postscript language intepreter/printer. I considered each of the programmers on that team to be significantly more competent in computer science than I was. My main contribution to the effort was to help establish configuration management and help establish a thorough going test suite for the system. I believe that these additions help increase the value of THEIR efforts several fold, but of course these changes would have been of no value if these programmers had not been competent. BTW...the customer that was contracting this work was so pleased with these changes that they swallowed without comment a doubling of the rates we were charging, just because of the enhanced value of the additional management. The comment I treasure the most, though, was when one of the lead programmers (who co-owned the company, by the way) made a comment later about how much smoother things went under the new system than under the old approach. I know this sounds like horn tooting, and I'm sorry about that. I was very excited at the added benefit just a little CM gave us. [more stuff deleted] >-- Jerry Callen > jcallen@encore.com -- If you get the impression I'm not qualified to speak for my company, it's because I ain't, I can't, I don't, I won't, and I don'wanna. Greg Harvey --Temporarily without mail service Lockheed, Houston Texas --Hope to have a PSCNI route soon!