What happened to those nice words, “Software Quality”?

Presentation given in the Lausanne Barcamp, March 2008.

Transcript

1. What happened to those nice words, “Software Quality”?
2. A grumpy developer’s perspective
3. And 4 simple steps
4. Adrian Kosmaczewski
5. Software developer
6. since 1996
17. Houston,
18. “Our society depends on software”
19. Bjarne Stroustrup
21. Yes, but:
22. Software Sucks
23. (some of it)
24. (mine does)
25. (sometimes)
28. 500M
29. Integer overflow
30. Nobody died
31. Therac-25
33. 6 people died
34. Overexposed to radiation
35. 1982 Soviet Gas Pipeline Explosion
36. Largest non-atomic explosion of history
37. Bug injected by CIA
38. 1988 Morris worm
39. First network worm
40. Buffer overflow
41. 1988 Russian “Phobos” Probe in Mars
42. Bad thruster deactivation
43. 1992 London Ambulance System
44. No official statistics about casualties
45. 1993 Pentium bug
46. *giggle*
47. 1998 USS Yorktown
48. Ship lost in the ocean
49. Divide by zero error
50. 1999 Mars Climate Orbiter
51. Miles or kilometers?
52. 1999 Mars Polar Lander
53. Vibrations? Cut the engines!
54. Geez, it was the atmosphere... not the ground!
55. 2000 National Cancer Institute, Panama
56. 8 patients die
57. 20 other overdosed
58. Doctors indicted for murder
59. 2003 USA Blackout
60. Race condition
61. 2006 Mars Global Surveyor
62. Motor dead? Yes? No!
63. Yeah!
64. Ever heard about the CHAOS report? http://www.standishgroup.com/
65. Status 1994 2006 Success 16% 35% Challenged 53% 46% Failed 31% 19% Source: http://tinyurl.com/yodqnw
67. What about us?
68. No space missions
69. Smaller projects
70. Similar problems
71. Software is expensive
72. ISO Certifications are worthless
73. CMMI certifications are (less) worthless
74. Software Quality theory is boring
76. Well, almost
84. Avoid being on The Daily WTF
85. 4 steps
87. 1. Pass the Joel Test 2. Avoid Open Spaces 3. At least write unit tests 4. Communicate
89. 1 The Joel Test http://tinyurl.com/1s8w
91. The Joel Test 1. Do you use source control? 2. Can you make a build in one step? 3. Do you make daily builds? 4. Do you have a bug database? 5. Do you fix bugs before writing new code? 6. Do you have an up-to-date schedule? 7. Do you have a spec? 8. Do programmers have quiet working conditions? 9. Do you use the best tools money can buy? 10. Do you have testers? 11. Do new candidates write code during their interview? 12. Do you do hallway usability testing?
92. How much is your score?
93. Be honest! :)
95. 2 Avoid open spaces
96. Cheaper?
102. •Noise •Interruptions •Phones •iPods •Lack of privacy Why not?
103. Ever heard about “Peopleware”?
105. Buy it and read it
106. “Flow”
107. http://www.ndesign-studio.com/images/portfolio/graphic/flow-1.jpg
108. Consequences •Low quality •Late delivery •Burnout •Turnover
109. Turnover is your enemy # 1
110. Cheaper in the short term means expensive in the long run
112. 3 At least, write unit tests
113. You’ll thank me
114. •JUnit •NUnit •PyUnit •Unit::Test (Ruby) •RSpec (Ruby) •CppUnit (C++) •Boost Test (C++) •Autounit (C) •JSUnit (JavaScript) •WOTest (ObjC) •PHPUnit •FoxUnit (FoxPro) •Selenium •lisp-unit •DUnit •SchemeUnit
115. Why?
116. Easy
117. Free
118. Refactoring
119. Documentation
120. Usage examples
121. Maintenance
122. Architecture
123. API Design
124. Performance
125. Good karma
126. How much testing?
127. Enough
128. Don’t become fanatic
129. (at least) One for every bug
130. Avoid regressions
131. Run them at every build
132. Script that build!
134. 4 Communicate
135. Wiki
136. Blog
137. Trac
138. Visual Studio Team System
139. (yuck!)
140. Bugzilla
141. Meetings
142. Don’t make them regular
143. Make them ad-hoc
144. Prefer code reviews
145. Client on board
146. Not always possible!
147. But extremely useful
148. Conclusion
149. 1. Pass the Joel Test 2. Avoid Open Spaces 3. At least write unit tests 4. Communicate
150. Thanks!
151. Questions?