Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!rutgers!att!cbnewsc!pgn
From: pgn@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (Novorolsky)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: How is Software Quality Judged?
Message-ID: <12603@cbnewsc.ATT.COM>
Date: 5 Jan 90 17:51:14 GMT
References: <8439@stiatl.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 39

From article <8439@stiatl.UUCP>, by todd@stiatl.UUCP (Todd Merriman):
> 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?
> 

Two more that I like to add to the list:

	Is the software available when needed (i.e., for newly
	    developed stuff - as scheduled )
	
	How much does it cost. (The "you get what you pay for"
	argument. Good software does not need to be expensive,
	expensive software isn't always "high quality", and I am
	willing to live with more faults if the product is really
	cheap.)

These, BTW, are MY opinions, and not necessarily those of my employer.
(Particularly, I don't want to imply that my employer is going to
make or buy really cheap software that has lots of bugs. :-)

========================================================
**paul novorolsky
( !att!iwtpm!pgn, pgn@iwtpm.att.com, attmail!pnovorolsky)
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