Don Bowen -> RE: Only tweaking is left (2/16/2009 8:41:48 PM)
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ORIGINAL: mikemike quote:
ORIGINAL: jmscho I am responsible for a key piece of software handling eye-wateringly large amounts of money (not in the banking sector). Version 1 went live 2 years ago. Versions 6 and 7 are in production now and are still not bug free. If we had waited until they were 100% to spec, the business would have folded. There is a point when management needs to be able to say enough is enough and release it warts and all. I suppose that depends on how big a processing error your organization can tolerate. One application I worked on for a long time was somewhat centrally situated in the banking sector - suffice it to say that the app handled about 1,500,000,000,000 euros during the average working day. This application was tested, tested, and tested again by several independent groups until we were sure we didn't have any major bugs left and the odd million or three hundred wouldn't wander off in unintended directions (there were some minor issues - no serious application is ever completely bug free). It helped, of course, that there was a predecessor application that could handle much of the load while we kept on testing. When the core functionality was in trouble-free production, we started expanding the functionality step by step. If you roll out a core app that is maybe 95% fault-free and patch it afterwards while expanding the functionality you are liable to pile bugs on top of bugs. quote:
Although I am itching to get my hands on AE I leave that final decision to them But if we all want it bug free it will never materialise. By and large I agree with you. But if 2by3 had caught the leader and sync bugs before they started selling WitP, subsequent patches would have been a lot easier to do. Don't get me wrong - I'm not criticizing the decision to publish WitP 1.0 in the state it was in - real-time applications (and WitP is essentially one) are the very devil to debug - there are too many variables influencing the flow of the code, and I doubt that any company in the games business could afford the battery of code testers and automated test rigs companies like Microsoft, IBM, or SAP employ to debug their software (there's also the time factor). But if WitP hadn't had those cracks in its foundation I guess there would be a lot fewer desks with tooth marks around in the WitP community. We are also going to have AE tested by a bunch of independent groups - soon as they buy it. Just a rambling discussion from someone who wrote his first program 45 years ago... Programmers forget to test what they forget to code. Testers get in rhythms - they repeatedly test the same thing and repeatedly don't test some other thing. Features that work independently and in usual combinations will break in unusual circumstances. If extensive testing by professionals, a large support staff, and feed back from a large user base could result in bug-free software - my windows start menu would not have the little "update" feature. Good things are comming. There will be problems. People will love and hate AE. Modders will create new mods that entertain - and that create new circumstances that break things. A little patience, then politeness please. Enjoy.
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