Xref: utzoo comp.lang.c:14810 comp.unix.wizards:13500
Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!athena.mit.edu!eichin
From: eichin@athena.mit.edu (Mark W. Eichin)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Standards (was Re: indentation:  enough already!)
Message-ID: <8482@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>
Date: 16 Dec 88 01:18:04 GMT
References: <3229@ingr.UUCP> <253@athertn.Atherton.COM> <3245@ingr.com.> <9190@smoke.BRL.MIL>
Sender: daemon@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU
Reply-To: eichin@athena.mit.edu (Mark W. Eichin)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lines: 19

In article <3245@ingr.com.> crossgl@ingr.UUCP (Gordon Cross) writes:
>What should they care so long as it works??!!!  As an end user of something

reply from Doug Gwyn <gwyn@brl.arpa> <9190@smoke.BRL.MIL>
>>No, it doesn't; it has bugs.  What should the customer do if one of the
>>bugs simply HAS to be fixed?  Remember that in the government's case, it
>>owns the deliverables (source code, etc.) and is responsible for fixing

Excellent case in point: the recent Internet Breakins, specifically
the ``ftp bug''. A bug that **HAS** to be fixed, even though the
program ``works'' -- readable source makes it easier to find and
squash these problems in a situation where *real time* matters.
``ftpd'' evolved over many years, and thus a number of people have had
to understand it, likewise ``sendmail'' -- the code really *has* to be
clear and readable or it isn't good enough (and it probably isn't
portable enough either :-( )

				Mark Eichin
			<eichin@athena.mit.edu>
		SIPB Member & Project Athena ``Watchmaker''