Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!munnari.oz.au!murtoa.cs.mu.oz.au!ditmela!diemen!tasis!ben From: ben@tasis.utas.oz.au@munnari.oz (Ben Lian) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: Monkey DA Message-ID: <1104@diemen.cc.utas.oz> Date: 10 Nov 89 03:00:58 GMT References: <1082@diemen.cc.utas.oz> <35975@apple.Apple.COM> <1083@diemen.cc.utas.oz> <317@panix.UUCP> <5064@internal.Apple.COM> Sender: root@diemen.cc.utas.oz Organization: Elec Eng & Comp Sci, Uni of Tasmania, Australia Lines: 34 In article <5064@internal.Apple.COM> rmh@apple.com (Rick Holzgrafe) writes: >In article <317@panix.UUCP> alexis@panix.UUCP (Alexis Rosen) writes: >usually too many combinations to be tested in reasonable time, so you can >only test the more obvious ones. The Monkey is an *extra* test, one you >can run at night for example, that might through luck stumble across a bug >that your planned testing missed. *If* your planned testing is thorough, >*and* it finds no bugs, *and* the Monkey can't break your product, you can >ship with confidence! *And* still have a buggy product!! If the application is large and complex, I doubt that any amount of conscientious testing can span the entire state space. That's why people who claim that large-and-complicated-program-X is bugfree are invariably talking through their hats. Why do you think they put those 'it's your problem, pal' disclaimers in warranties. For example, reading the fine print on my Word 4.0 disk package, I see a heap of 'thou shalt nots', plus disclaimers which absolve the company from all liability in States whose consumer laws are not that strong. Note that I am not picking on Microsoft. Most other software products sold in the USA contain almost exactly the same guff. Are people really that eager to sue at the drop of a hat? Aww, I'm crapping on now.... I just want a program that does what it is supposed to do, and does it properly. I can take the occasional crash, as long as it is not catastrophic, i.e., wipes out my life's work, etc. etc. Ben Lian Dept of EE & CS, Uni of Tasmania, GPO Box 252C, Hobart TAS 7001, Australia UUCP: ...!{uunet,ukc,mcvax,hplabs,nttlab}!munnari!tasis.utas.oz!ben ACSnet: ben@tasis.utas.oz Ph: 002-202380 Fax: 002-202713