Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!mrsvr.UUCP!pet16.uucp!hallett
From: hallett@pet16.uucp (Jeff Hallett x5163	)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: How is Software Quality Judged?
Message-ID: <1806@mrsvr.UUCP>
Date: 5 Jan 90 15:11:29 GMT
References: <8439@stiatl.UUCP>
Sender: news@mrsvr.UUCP
Reply-To: hallett@gemed.ge.com (Jeffrey A. Hallett (414) 548-5163)
Organization: GE Medical Systems, Milwaukee,  WI
Lines: 50

In article <8439@stiatl.UUCP> todd@stiatl.UUCP (Todd Merriman) writes:
%What actually measures the quality of software?  "Quality" is an
%often-abused word used to describe software developed by software
%engineers, but the criteria by which to judge "quality" varies
%widely from place to place.  Some of the ways I judge quality
%are:
%
%	How well the pieces of a software system are integrated
%
%	How few trouble reports there are
%
%	How efficiently it performs
%
%	How supportable is the code
%
%	How modular is it?  How easy is it to add new modules?
%
%	How intuitive is the user interface?
%
%	How well it satisfies the end-users
%
%	Does it have acceptable functionality?
%
%
%What are some of the ways you judge the quality of software?
%
%   ...!gatech!stiatl!todd
%   Todd Merriman * 404-841-4000 * Atlanta, GA


In general, I like the areas you target, but the problem is  that most
of these are "unquanta" (to use a DeMarco-ism).  I think we all have a
good idea  of what kinds  of things we  want to  measure: does it meet
requirements?  can the user use  it effectively?  is  it  put together
fairly well? etc.  However, the difficulty  lies in how do  we measure
these   things?   We can   measure  adherance    to   requirements and
satisfaction of the user's needs quantitatively.   There still  are no
impirical measures for the other things though (or,  if there are, I'd
like to see them).

We need research into a  lot  of these things...we cannot control what
we cannot  measure  and unmeasurable criteria   will probably leave us
worse off than having none at all.


--
	     Jeffrey A. Hallett, PET Software Engineering
      GE Medical Systems, W641, PO Box 414, Milwaukee, WI  53201
	    (414) 548-5163 : EMAIL -  hallett@gemed.ge.com
"Non Sequitor - Your facts are uncoordinated"; "I am Nomad: I am perfect."