On Mon, Dec 15, 2014 at 8:19 PM, Leon Sorokin <leeon...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 12/15/2014 11:59 AM, Robert Williams wrote:
>
>> What world is this that you live in where every line of code that’s
>> written is fully unit-tested
>>
>
> You took my example too literally; forget the unit tests. Imagine the
> situation differently:
>
> 1. Someone wrote this function:
>
> function add_five_pct($num) {
> return $num * 1.10;
> }
>
> 2. This function was then used to calculate profit margin and display
> retail prices on your site and business has been great! Unknowingly, you've
> been making 2x what was intended with no ill effects!
>
> 3. A new hire then went through this code on his own accord and decided,
> 'wait, this function is a bug!' and took it upon himself to fix it to '$num
> * 1.05'.
>
> Would you say the e-commerce site has been 'fixed' to work correctly?
> Should the dev be praised for fixing the clearly broken function without
> consulting anyone?
>
> I cannot come up with a clearer explanation of how a 'silent' code fix can
> foul up the bigger picture in non-beneficial ways. That's the scenario
> that's being discussed here. The main point of contention is, no one knows
> how much code exists in the wild that uses and relies on this misbehavior.
> My argument is 'negligible', others say it's 'non-negligible'. And the
> whole comedy is, no one can actually provide definitive numbers since
> nobody will ever know but a tiny portion of all source code that is out
> there, so all arguments stem from 'meta' evidence and personal experience.
>
>
> --
> Leon Sorokin
>
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> PHP Internals - PHP Runtime Development Mailing List
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>
>
Precisely why I suggested we do a poll and find out. Polling is a valid
means of getting a reasonable accounting of a particular metric. If we use
a sufficiently diverse and representative sample, we should easily be able
to get accurate enough results to settle this question once and for all.
The only cost is effort.
--Kris
