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If your software is truly bug free then it is a miracle and should never be
touched again. Forget the other 15 features. Lock the software away in a
vault and charge admission to see the machine it was written on.
Take a picture of the code before you lock it away and thousands of
programmers all around the world would by a print and stick it up on their
walls for inspiration.
Once a year they would all down tools and walk to the sacred shrine and
give thanks for the theoretical possibility that it may somewhere, sometime
happen again.
You should also make little statues of the programmer responsible so that
people can set up their own 'programming scene' (similar to the nativity
scene at Christmas).
Goes to show... if you live long enough, all things are possible.
(in truth, you probably just haven't tested it enough yet :))
And a term for "functionally incomplete"? Try "Version 1.0".
Regards,
Bruce Ashley
OZ
-----Original Message-----
From: Rowena Hart [SMTP:rhart -at- INTRINSYC -dot- COM]
Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 1998 7:46 AM
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject: Desc. for "functionally incomplete" ?
Hi folks,
A question from one of our programmers:
How would you describe software that is in its v1.0 release and bug-
free, but "functionally incomplete"? As an example --
* The product will eventually support 40 features.
* The current release (v1.0) supports 25 of these features, bug-free.
* These initial 25 features provide basic functionality -- the product
performs the tasks that are required and nothing more.
* With each new release the product will evolve beyond basic
functionality, until it supports all 40 features.
Is there a term, possibly like "beta," that indicates that a product is
not buggy, it just doesn't support all possible features?
