[LINK] Software quality control metaphors [was: Knight of razor to slash government spending]

[Marghanita da Cruz]

Stephen Wilson wrote:
> 
> grove at zeta.org.au wrote:
>> On Fri, 25 Apr 2008, Stephen Wilson wrote:
>>
>>> Unlike any other engineering, software does not obey the laws of 
>>> physics. Writing software is much more like writing plays, than 
>>> building bridges. Until the 'profession' comes to terms with this, I 
>>> am sure quality and professionalism will remain elusive.
>>
>>
>> There are some terrible, poorly written plays out there.
>> But software, unlike a play can cause harm, or even physical injury.  
>  > ... Standards need to be applied, even if they are only personal
>  > standards and quality is important in everything.
> 
> I concur with the need for standards, for sure.  It's just that they are 
> not sufficient.  What's also needed is structure, and many thought that 
> this would result from OO, or CASE, or Formal Methods, or High Level 
> Languages, or whatever the latest fashion was.  But experience shows 
> that the innate desire of developers to create still supersedes the 
> stricture of these tools and nullifies their benefits.

 From what I have seen of these tools, they are just another complex tool to
document and hopefully communicate the difficult specification/prototyping.

> 
> The reason why I liken software development to play writing is that I 
> reckon structure in both cases is mostly arbitrary -- it comes from the 
> composition (oh, and neither obey the laws of physics).  A good software 
> engineer will know their composition from end to end. Yet another 
> programmer can always come along and edit the work, inserting their own 
> code as they see fit.  We all know that many if not most bugs arise from 
> people modifying old code, with insufficient attention to the whole of 
> the parts that came before.

This metaphor like the car metaphor is too simplistic. "A play" requires some
infrastructure - theatre, actors, directors, lighting and even the concept of
theatre/performance art etc. However, I did draw some parallels between David
Williamson's the Club and Corporate Governance of ICT - but then these could
just be universal truths about groups.
<http://www.ramin.com.au/itgovernance/corporategovernance.html>


> 
> Messing with a carefully written piece of software is fraught with 
> danger, just as it is with a finished play.  I could take Hamlet for 
> instance, and hack it as easily as I might hack an old program -- add a 
> character or two, or a whole new scene -- but the entire internal logic 
> of the play would almost certainly be wrecked.
> 
<completely off topic and a blatant plug>
Saw Angels in America - Part 1, at the new theatre last night, and highly
recommend it (declaration of interest, I just do their website).
<http://www.ramin.com.au/online/newtheatre/#angels>

> Cheers,
> 
> Steve Wilson
> www.lockstep.com.au
> 
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-- 
Marghanita da Cruz
http://www.ramin.com.au
Phone: (+61)0414 869202