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(NOTE: I’m not even going to touch on the nightmare of what happens if the API designer decides to reorder some of the parameters …) : Programmer time is expensive conserve it in preference to machine time. The use of booleans has made me do work I should not need to do in an ideal world. If I want to understand the statement in the client code, I have to look at the API. : Design for visibility to make inspection and debugging easier. This violates one of the most important of the Principles of UNIX Programming (PoUP) [ What does any of us know of the majority of the intended semantics of the following statement:įont f = CreateFont('Courier', true, false,

Is how easy it is to understand a component in order to be able to change it. Is how easy it is to understand a component in order to be able to use it. Of this is likely to be high, since the name of each of the parameters clearly indicates its intent.ĭefinition of Discoverability & Transparency Of the API, this is great: As a user I specify the family, then each of my (Boolean) choices as to whether it is emboldened, italicised, underlined, and superscripted. Italicised, bool underlined, bool superscripted) The API might look like the following:įont CreateFont(string family, bool bold, bool In my experience, the most common example of this is when it comes to using Boolean parameters.Ĭonsider a programmer tasked with writing an API for the manipulation of fonts, such that one is able to create a font from a base family along with selecting emboldenment, italicisation, underlining, and superscripting. However, sometimes these very collegial subdivisions work against each other. , but also (depending on how good is the design of the given component) with (see sidebar) collaborate well and, further, tend to also to work well with others, especially This is not always the case, however, and usually the sub-divisions of the composite characteristic

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]) and as is evident from deductive reasoning alone, combinations of characteristics of software quality are often in conflict: Writing fns with bool params quick&easy costs maintainers of cli-code far more effort than U saveĪs I’ve discussed previously on a number of occasions ([ As a consequence, not only will I be putting very real effort into being succinct, I will also pander to the 140-character generation by including a pithiest-possible executive summary at the head of each Bite. As I examine each one, I’ll provide a short definition, reference to previously discussed points in QM, and relevant references to established works.Įven prior to the advent of the Twitter age I was informed with disheartening frequency that my written prolixity was enervating to an unsettling and, often, self-defeating degree.

I’ll be relying on a host of previously discussed topics in the Bites. This new vehicle will let me guarantee my contributions to every (or most) Overload issue, usually two or three Bites and the occasional full-size Quality Matters instalment when I’m able. This means I’m going to have a tremendous amount of new material to draw on and huge motivation to rekindle my previous intentions to wander the software quality landscape dropping my magic pixie dust. Further, I’ve just taken on a new long-term role as Application Architect for a company that does extremely high-performance software (in many technologies, but mainly C++), with a remit to transform and modernise.

Our patient editor, Frances Buontempo, has offered gentle encouragement from time to time, and very recently had the liberating (for me) insight that I should write about other things until my exception-mojo is fully charged.

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The problem is a simple one: I’m stuck halfway in my exceptions series, I’m a perfectionist (and not in a good way, in truth), and I haven’t been able to get past my commitment to finish the series and move on to the many other topics I’d planned (and still intend) to cover. Those gentle readers of patience and good memory will remember that I write the Quality Matters column in this journal, only I haven’t done so in quite some time. Matthew Wilson advises us to avoid them (almost) all the time. Boolean parameters are tempting but make life difficult.

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