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From: donm@margot.Eng.Sun.COM (Don Miller)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Code inspections
Summary: Tools and Practices
Message-ID: <7410@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: 5 Feb 91 22:15:34 GMT
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>[...]
>There seems to have been little discussion in this thread on the training 
>required for doing inspections.  Creating the atmosphere for, and then 
>running proper inspections takes time, money, training, schedule impact,
>and potentially changes in either the psychology and/or staff of  the 
>organization.  Are they valuable?  Absolutely.  Are they free?  Not initially.
>The resultant value for some organizations has been measured as is part of the 
>literature.  IMHO most organizations have to go through some type of 
>justification of the value, and should continue to measure the value in
>terms of $ and time.
>
>GXKambic
>Allen-Bradley
>Standard disclaimers.

   There has also been no discussion on how to make most effective
   use of the time and personnel resources allocated to code reviews.
   Is everyone really still just giving out hard copy of source,
   hoping reviewers can figure it out, and then getting together
   to hammer it out?

   I envision a code review process which makes use of tools and
   practices designed to minimize resource consumption.  Static 
   analysis tools would be valuable towards understanding foreign
   code.  An on-line reviewer which cataloged comments of the
   reviewer would facilitate pre-meeting information gathering.
   A projection system accessing the actual code could be used
   as a guide during the review.

   I'm proposing automation, or even just optimal manual techniques,
   as a way of addressing the primary concern regarding code reviews.
   Some of the tools that I've mentioned above exist and the others
   aren't difficult to imagine.  Does anyone out there use these
   techniques or are we still in the stone age?

--
Don Miller                              |   #include <std.disclaimer>
Software Quality Engineering            |   #define flame_retardent \
Sun Microsystems, Inc.                  |   "I know you are but what am I?"
donm@eng.sun.com                        |