Software Quality

I think most of us here are hot on quality. It's one of the reasons why I
don't release code before I'm at least happy with what I've got is clean and
easily maintainable.

Here (MBC) I see several other analysts writing quick hacks that then become
mission critical. These hacks then become illegible so when they break, I
end up pulling my hair out because I can't read the code.

Yet, they then moan at me because I take longer. However, I test everything
first and I don't reinvent the wheel - if a routine or class is going to be
useful, I make sure it's not dependent on too much, and put it in a library.

I hate sloppy coding, but it's a sign of the times. Machines are more
powerful, and storage is so cheap it's the easy way out not to optimise
things.

For example: How large is the average chess program now? Does anyone
remember the Sinclair ZX81 and chess that ran in 1K of memory? Or how about
a programming language on the Amiga whos compiler was only 1020 bytes long
(Fast).

Peter

--
Peter Mount
Enterprise Support
Maidstone Borough Council
Any views stated are my own, and not those of Maidstone Borough Council

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Momjian [mailto:pgman@candle.pha.pa.us]
Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2000 1:20 AM
To: PostgreSQL-development
Subject: [HACKERS] Software Quality

The following URL is a short article about software quality. He
criticizes the sloppy coding practices of some open-source software. I
agree with most of his points.

My personal feeling is that if sloppy coding becomes the norm, I will be
out of a job. I place a high value on quality code, and I know most
PostgreSQL do as well.

http://www.osopinion.com/Opinions/MontyManley/MontyManley8.html

-- 
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://candle.pha.pa.us
  pgman@candle.pha.pa.us               |  (610) 853-3000
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026

Peter Mount wrote:

I think most of us here are hot on quality. It's one of the reasons why I
don't release code before I'm at least happy with what I've got is clean and
easily maintainable.

Here (MBC) I see several other analysts writing quick hacks that then become
mission critical. These hacks then become illegible so when they break, I
end up pulling my hair out because I can't read the code.

Yet, they then moan at me because I take longer. However, I test everything
first and I don't reinvent the wheel - if a routine or class is going to be
useful, I make sure it's not dependent on too much, and put it in a library.

I hate sloppy coding, but it's a sign of the times. Machines are more
powerful, and storage is so cheap it's the easy way out not to optimise
things.

For example: How large is the average chess program now? Does anyone
remember the Sinclair ZX81 and chess that ran in 1K of memory? Or how about
a programming language on the Amiga whos compiler was only 1020 bytes long
(Fast).

I used to run the 68000 Macro Assembler for my Amiga 1000 of off
floppy disk. There's nothing like a pre-emptively multi-tasking
operating system with a graphical user interface that runs nicely
in 256K of RAM ;-)

Mike Mascari

Mike Mascari wrote:

I used to run the 68000 Macro Assembler for my Amiga 1000 of off
floppy disk. There's nothing like a pre-emptively multi-tasking
operating system with a graphical user interface that runs nicely
in 256K of RAM ;-)

But there's a complete UNIX V7 available to run in 640K on XT
hardware. My first 'make world' was on a 4.77MHz 8088 (ahem
NEC-V20) with 768K and 10MB harddisk. With some better
hardware (386 and 2MB at minimum - works with less but is no
fun) you can also run it with a TCP/IP stack and telnet or
ftp to it like me. My one is a total oversized 486DX4-100
with 16M and 1G disk.

Jan

--

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