Process

Better Software Magazine Articles

My Summer as a Hacker

Pete TerMaat shares some valuable lessons learned from a summer with "hacking legend" Richard Stallman. He learned that attitude, passion for one's work, was most important. Reviews, coding standards, porting guidelines, bug hunting advice, and other measures can fall flat without a passion for clean code, for "getting things right."
Pete TerMaat
June 26, 2002
A Study in Failures

Examples of mistakes, manifestations, and problems help us understand all parts of the software. Brian Marick suggests Web resources that examine software failures.
Brian Marick
June 26, 2002
Learning to Love Unit Testing

Unit testing can become a developer's best friend. Find out how and why from two programmers who now rely on this practice to improve development.
Andy Hunt Dave Thomas
June 26, 2002
The Two Bugs

Brian Marick applies the philosophical concept of "ready-to-hand" to software programming and describes two bugs that illustrate problems caused by mismatched reuse of ideas.
Brian Marick
June 26, 2002
Writing Effective Bug Reports

Have you ever had a bug returned to you for more information? Have you ever found a critical bug only to have it deferred to another release? Elisabeth Hendrickson tells you how to write effective and informative bug reports that will get noticed.
Elisabeth Hendrickson's picture Elisabeth Hendrickson
June 26, 2002
Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations

Don Gray recommends Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations by Robert D. Austin. The book is not a five-step program toward measurement success; instead, it gives an in-depth look at what makes or breaks measurement systems. The book presents information in an intuitive way; if you understand algebra and simple logic, you will understand what Austin is presenting.
Don Gray's picture Don Gray
June 26, 2002
On the Cost of Quality

Technical Editor Brian Lawrence explains four types of costs of quality: prevention, appraisal, internal failure, and external failure.
Brian Lawrence
June 26, 2002
Book Review: Adaptive Software Development

Johanna Rothman recommends the book Adaptive Software Development by James Highsmith. She says, "Highsmith shows the reader how to recognize when development practices need to change and how to acquire the skills to adapt. For a fresh approach to software development, be sure to check it out."
Johanna Rothman's picture Johanna Rothman
June 26, 2002
Making Numbers Count

Numbers count—no two ways about it. But any numbers you include in a bug report should also include the appropriate units of measure. In an example from their experience, David Wilson and Leonidas Hepis explain the importance of using consistent terminology and units of measure.
David D. Wilson Leonidas Hepis
June 26, 2002
A Cautionary Tale

Technical Editor Brian Marick uses a fairy tale format to warn software professionals against using easy-to-acquire numbers in place of human judgment.
Brian Marick
June 26, 2002

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