Review By: Dayna L. Spear
05/07/2006In "The Bug," author Ellen Ullman gives the reader a glimpse into the lives of software professionals, artfully depicting the ways they interact with one another. The frustrations and triumphs of each role are clearly laid out in a fictional story-line format, making it a book you can't put down. Although even a novice can learn from this book, it would cause an expert to take into consideration his/her coworkers’ roles in software engineering and defect tracking.

Ullman is adept at describing the processes of software engineering. "The Bug" is organized into four parts with five or six chapters in each. The story opens with a scene in which a tester, Roberta, experiences a memory flashback to a search for a bug dubbed "The Jester." The reader is also introduced to Ethan Levin, the programmer to whom the bug report is submitted. Emotions are high as The Jester appears at the most inopportune times, for example, at a presentation to the venture capitalists funding the company. Yet, Ethan is unable to reproduce the bug at will, unable to find its origin, and therefore unable to fix the problem.

"The Bug" appropriately portrays the entire software engineering team and the importance of interaction between team members. Other team members' lack of support and encouragement served to further dishearten Ethan Levin when he was unsuccessful in finding the bug. Building and maintaining self-esteem is a key element in teambuilding. This team was missing it, and to its own detriment!

Roberta Walton, tester turned programmer, trained by Ethan Levin, ended up finding The Jester after Ethan's destruction and departure. Her determination to learn more about software engineering and yet not allow it to consume her paid off. It resulted in a seemingly simple solution—and the bug wasn't even facilitated by a mistake on Ethan's part, but was the fault of another programmer.