The economics of software correctness
drmaciver.com
The economics of software correctness
1–10 of 54 posts
Re: The economics of software correctness
#2It's possible to write software with very few bugs if you're very experienced in the language/framework and software development in general, writing all the code yourself, and perfectly understand the requirements. Otherwise, good luck.
Re: The economics of software correctness
#3"The problem is not that we don’t know how to write correct software. The problem is that correct software is too expensive."
That's something I've been saying for a while. It's all about the economics of the situation, rather than the impossibility if it.
Naturally, there are also improvements here and there that decrease bugs without increasing efforts, and those are worth looking for.
Re: The economics of software correctness
#4I think one of the other problems is that people value the economics of software correctness using their gut, rather than empirical analysis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbolic_discounting
Everyone knows that bugs are problematic eventually, it just seems that they can't put that on a level playing field with the up front costs, be they in terms of time, features, or effectiveness.
As an example, if you asked Home Depot whether they were saving money with their self checkout machines, I'm sure the answer would be different before their data breach vs after. Even after being warned they simply couldn't properly discount the possibility of massive damage in the future when offered a short term benefit.
Re: The economics of software correctness
#5"The problem is not that we don’t know how to write correct software. The problem is that correct software is too expensive." That's something I've been saying for a while. It's all about the economics of the situation, rather than the impossibility if it. Naturally, there are also improvements here and there that decrease bugs without increasing efforts, and those are worth looking for.
But in a practical sense, the problem is that we don't know how to write correct software.
Re: The economics of software correctness
#6"The problem is not that we don’t know how to write correct software. The problem is that correct software is too expensive." That's something I've been saying for a while. It's all about the economics of the situation, rather than the impossibility if it. Naturally, there are also improvements here and there that decrease bugs without increasing efforts, and those are worth looking for.
But in a practical sense, the problem is that we don't know how to write correct software.
Actually, we do have some pretty good ideas about how to do it. That was covered in the article.
Re: The economics of software correctness
#7"The problem is not that we don’t know how to write correct software. The problem is that correct software is too expensive." That's something I've been saying for a while. It's all about the economics of the situation, rather than the impossibility if it. Naturally, there are also improvements here and there that decrease bugs without increasing efforts, and those are worth looking for.
But in a practical sense, the problem is that we don't know how to write correct software.
It's mostly based on the skill and experience of the developer. Of course there is probably some asymptote in the quality and delivery time that is impossible to surpass, like the 3 minute mile. Human brains are not without limits and we didn't evolve to write software.
Re: The economics of software correctness
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
But in a practical sense, the problem is that we don't know how to write correct software.
It's mostly based on the skill and experience of the developer. Of course there is probably some asymptote in the quality and delivery time that is impossible to surpass, like the 3 minute mile. Human brains are not without limits and we didn't evolve to write software.
It's not at all about developer skill. It's about methods and process.
Ok, you don't want to have a bunch of total bozo developers, or the time to get anything useful done will stretch out to infinity, but still, it's not about just 'being good'.
Re: The economics of software correctness
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's mostly based on the skill and experience of the developer. Of course there is probably some asymptote in the quality and delivery time that is impossible to surpass, like the 3 minute mile. Human brains are not without limits and we didn't evolve to write software.
It's not at all about developer skill. It's about methods and process. Ok, you don't want to have a bunch of total bozo developers, or the time to get anything useful done will stretch out to infinity, but still, it's not about just 'being good'.
Well that's part of it. You need to have the experience to know which methods and processes give you the most value and quality for the time invested. There's many skill sets involved and knowing good processes is just one.
Re: The economics of software correctness
#10"The problem is not that we don’t know how to write correct software. The problem is that correct software is too expensive." That's something I've been saying for a while. It's all about the economics of the situation, rather than the impossibility if it. Naturally, there are also improvements here and there that decrease bugs without increasing efforts, and those are worth looking for.
But in a practical sense, the problem is that we don't know how to write correct software.
We know how to do a lot of things well, but when all our tools are made by hobbyist hackers creating out of love of fun instead of love of sustainability (or worse, short term hacks for love of profit), we end up with the mess we have now.