Geoff- Saturday, April 8, 2006, 12:24:12 PM, you wrote:
> 1. The requirements simply say to display the date -- the date is > displayed. If non-modality is needed, that should be in the > requirements. ...and conversely if a modal display is desired then that should be spelled out... > First you need a clear and complete set of requirements. Note that > there is no equivocation there. The requirements must be totally > clear, and absolutely complete. The requirements must be such that > any reasonably intelligent person can sit down, read them, and then > answer _any_ question about what the software is to do. Furthermore, ... > I have never seen such requirements, nor really anything close to it, > and that's okay. Requirements like that would be exceptionally hard > to write, and most people are willing to deal with the issues that > come with easier-to-write vague specifications. I have. I had the pleasure of working for a year and a half on a project that spent the first 60% of the sdlc hammering out a requirements document. This was the contract between development and QA - they could each build from the same document and refer to it when conflicts came up. We delivered the product more or less on time, more or less bug-free (nothing major, nothing that you didn't have to go way out of your way to find), and received awards for the finished product. And this was a three-tiered java app with a mainframe backend encrypting financial data across the internet. It *can* be done. And done well. > Quoting: "Consider these stats : the last three versions of the > program -- each 420,000 lines long-had just one error each. The last > 11 versions of this software had a total of 17 errors." > The part I don't get is: if you have it down to just one bug, how > hard is it to find and fix that one bug? ROTFL. The article makes a point of pointing out a certain uniqueness: "What makes it remarkable is how well the software works. This software never crashes. It never needs to be re-booted. This software is bug-free." I notice, however, that even with "one error" in the last version of the software "Four identical machines, running identical software, pull information from thousands of sensors, make hundreds of milli-second decisions, vote on every decision, check with each other 250 times a second. A fifth computer, with different software, stands by to take control should the other four malfunction." ...and I love the tagline: "The sooner you fall behind, the more time you will have to catch up." -- -Mark Wieder [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list [email protected] Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
