Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ub!uhura.cc.rochester.edu!rochester!kodak!ispd-newsserver!ism.isc.com!b1!ico!auto-trol!mattel From: mattel@auto-trol.com (Matt Telles) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: Re: Modifiability Message-ID: <1991Jun10.155105.5816@auto-trol.com> Date: 10 Jun 91 15:51:05 GMT References: <1991Jun07.020546.29682@xstor.com> <1991Jun7.073448.11818@netcom.COM> Sender: news@auto-trol.com Distribution: comp.software-eng Organization: Auto-trol Lines: 41 Nntp-Posting-Host: mattel In article kers@hplb.hpl.hp.com (Chris Dollin) writes: [ .. Some stuff deleted .. ] >Casting aside the appeal to authority, how reasonable is this test (``metric'' >seems a little to overstate the case, since the only number involved is the age >``8''. Hm, another software metric - an average of the developers ages?)? > >Could you explain to an 8-year-old: > > * that you're computing a transitive closure > * that you're generating code to parse tokens froma context-free grammar > * that you're proving that launching requires authorisation > * that you drink beer because you *like* the taste > * that sex is nicer than chocolate [points for identifying source] > * that people have to lose their jobs to support the economy > >``explain'', ``what you're doing'', and how you measure the success of the >explanation are all left loose here. I'd give the criterion a polite ``no'', >but admit that there's something to be learned from it. Chris, I don't usually post to this group, mostly because I have yet to understand how software can be engineering .. :). HOWEVER .. I agree with Jim and Einstein .. you CAN explain all of the above points to an 8 year old (Why 8? Because younger than that they do not have the concepts necessary to do proper comparisons). In the newspaper business, we were taught to write at an eight grade level. This works well in the news business because people do not have the time or desire to go to a dictionary for terms they do not understand in the morning daily. In the above points, with the exception of "sex being nicer than chocolate" (A Heinlein quote if I remember right..) I would be happy to explain any of the above to ANYONE over the age of 8. If you can't, as Jim pointed out, you do not understand the statement. Just my $.02. Matt -- ============================================================================== Matt Telles mattel@auto-trol.COM {...}ncar!ico!auto-trol!mattel Auto-trol Technology 12500 N Washington Denver, CO 80241-2404 (303)252-2874