It is folly to believe something you have never experienced directly.
Of course, we all want to write good code for good people who have good
intentions. I think that's a satisfying goal to reach.
First, define defect-free. Do negative user experiences count as
"defects"? Is the set of defects merely the set of all calculations? Is the
inability to deal with data corruption a defect? You could define an infinite
amount of unit tests for any given application, so "defect-free" is an
unqualified statement.
But I believe that some notion of software that will satisfy everyone
and will never in any situation crash or run through a bug, is a goal that is
inherently unreachable and is an illegitimate perversion of reality. This is
mostly because there is no such thing as perfection in the universe, at least
in my experience. Everything is essentially untrustworthy to some degree,
including our bodies and minds. Everything is in constant change, and although
the fabricated realities we create in code would seem to belie that, they still
exist in a world that is predicated on time and change.
Could you build a perfect bridge? Could you write a perfect book?
These are loaded questions that can be answered either "yes" or "no," but not
without qualification.
On Fri, Dec 03, 2004 at 10:56:21AM -0800, Chris Wheeler wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I've had a few conversations lately with people around
> work about defects and how to address them in XP. One
> thing that keeps coming up is this: All software has
> defects, and software will always ship with defects in
> it.
>
> I used to believe that as reality. Now I am have
> changed my mind. I believe that a team can ship defect
> free software. Yet, when I talk about that, people
> tend to say that, yes, in theory this is true, but in
> practice, can never happen.
>
> What has been your experience? Do you beleive that
> software with zero defects is possible? Or do you
> think that we can never attain this goal on a software
> team?
>
> Chris.
>
> =====
> ---------------------------
> C H R I S W H E E L E R
> Extreme Programmer & Coach
>
>
>
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--
Sean Gilbertson
IT Systems/Software Developer
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