From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,de5dfd6df880dd3 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: "M." Subject: Re: Bugs or Mistakes? Date: 1999/11/13 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 547977435 References: <19991112202656.2368.rocketmail@web216.mail.yahoo.com> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3 X-Complaints-To: abuse@tds.net (TDS.NET help Desk 1-888-815-5992) X-Trace: ratbert.tds.net 942456089 208.137.66.89 (Fri, 12 Nov 1999 19:21:29 CST) Organization: TDS.NET Internet Services www.tds.net NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1999 19:21:29 CST Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1999-11-13T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: MaryAnn Atkinson wrote in message <19991112202656.2368.rocketmail@web216.mail.yahoo.com>... >Richard D Riehle wrote: >> What we call a "bug" is actually a mistake. Someone tried to do >> something and made a mistake. The mistake results in a defect. >> The defect is a potential run-time fault. Managers need to take >> the responsibility for elminating the word "bug" from the >> vocabulary of their software personnel. > >Why so harsh words? You are talking about a "bug" like its >a dirty word, or like we are somehow not allowed to make them... They aren't harsh words; they're accurate words -- unlike "bug." There is a surprising attitude change that comes with eliminating "bug" from one's professional vocabulary. It does away with the illusion that the program is a personage working against the programmer. It eliminates the idea that a bad design can be debugged to a some level of acceptability -- which in turn discourages programmers from rushing to code. For management, it enables greater precision in classifying defects. You've got a "bug," you say? Is it a coding defect, design defect, or specification defect? How am I going to revise the schedule if I don't know? Have you ever, during a job interview, asked an employer, "How many mistakes am I allowed to make per week?" Of course not! Nobody's saying that mistakes aren't allowed, only that programmers should have serious quality standards. >Bugs are mistakes ONLY if they are not found and corrected! That's not a very useful observation. Given program X, how do you determine the number of defects that have not been found and corrected? >P.S. Besides, you can't easily make a verb out of "mistake", you know? > What, am I going to be "demistaking" my code now? Correcting. Fixing. Removing defects. M.