Visual Basic —

Some Attitude Issues

One of the major themes of this chapter is that attitude is everything when it comes to writing zero-defect code. Developers aren't stupid, and they can write solid code when given the opportunity. Provided with a clear and unambiguous set of targets, developers are usually highly motivated and very effective at meeting those targets. If management sets a crystal-clear target of zero-defect code and then does everything sensible to encourage attitudes aimed at fulfilling that target, the probability is that the code produced by the team will have few defects. So given the goal of writing zero-defect code, let's look at some of the attitudes that are required.

Swallowing a Rhinoceros Sideways

The stark truth is that there is no such thing as zero-defect software. The joke definition passed down from generation to generation (a generation in IS being maybe 18 months or so) expresses it nicely: "Zero defects [noun]: The result of shutting down a production line." Most real-life programs contain at least a few bugs simply because writing bug-free code is so difficult. As one of my clients likes to remind me, if writing solid code were easy, everybody would be doing it. He also claims that writing flaky code is much easier-which might account for the large quantity of it generally available.

Having said this, it is really part of every professional developer's job to aim at writing bug-free code. Knowing that bugs are inevitable is no excuse for any attitude that allows them the slightest breathing space. It's all in the approach. Professional programmers know that their code is going to contain bugs, so they bench-test it, run it through the debugger, and generally hammer it every way they can to catch the problems that they know are lurking in there somewhere. If you watch the average hacker at work, you'll notice something interesting. As soon as said hacker is convinced that his program is working to his satisfaction, he stops working, leans back in his chair, shouts to his boss that he's ready to perform a production release, and then heads for the soda machine. He's happy that he has spent some considerable time trying to show that his program is correct. Now fast-forward this hacker a few years, to the point where he has become more cynical and learned much more about the art of programming. What do you see? After reaching the stage at which he used to quit, he promptly starts working again. This time, he's trying something different-rather than prove his program is correct, he's trying to prove that it's incorrect.

Perhaps one of the major differences between amateur and professional developers is that amateurs are satisfied to show that their programs appear to be bug-free, whereas professionals prefer to try showing that their programs still contain bugs. Most amateurs haven't had enough experience to realize that when they believe their program is working correctly, they are perhaps only halfway through the development process. After they've done their best to prove a negative (that their code doesn't have any bugs), they need to spend some time trying to show the opposite.

One very useful if somewhat controversial technique for estimating the number of bugs still remaining in an application is called defect seeding. Before performing extensive quality assurance or user acceptance tests, one development group deliberately seeds the application code with a set of documented defects. These defects should cover the entire functionality of the application, and range from fatal to cosmetic, just as in real life. At the point when you estimate that the testing process is near completion, given the ratio of the number of seeded defects detected to the total number of defects seeded, you can calculate the approximate number of bugs in the application by using the following formula:

     D0 = (D1 / D2) * D3

D1 is the total number of seeded defects, D2 is the number of seeded defects found so far, and D3 is the number of real (i.e. non-seeded) defects found so far. The resulting figure of D0 is therefore the total number of defects in the application, and D0 minus D3 will give you the approximate number of real defects that still haven't been located.

Beware of forgetting to remove the seeded defects, or of introducing new problems when removing them. If possible, keep the seeded defect code encapsulated and thus easy to remove from the programs.

Some final thoughts Find developers who are intelligent, knowledgeable, willing to learn, and good at delivering effective code. Find out whether they are also aware that writing bug-free code is so difficult that they must do everything possible to prevent and detect bugs. Don't hire them without this final magical factor. It's true that the first four qualities are all wonderful, but they are meaningless without this last one.