Re: [AM] Code reviews preventative?

Depends on your definition of "preventative" - the purpose of code
inspections is to prevent defects from escaping the phase (and,
ultimately, to the customer).

Presumably pair programming similarly doesn't keep defects from being
written, it just identifies them faster (the person typing is still
going to type the error before the person reading can see what was
typed). [I recognize that in some cases the pair will recognize the
defect in discussion before typing, but that kind of incidental save is
no more preventative than a single programmer re-reading her code before
submitting it for testing - some defects simply don't live long enough
to reach the metrics.]

Training and tools can be preventative in the sense of keeping defects
from occurring to begin with.  Test-first coding might help in some
cases (if the coder is also writing the tests and learns in writing the
test what the code has to do to pass the test).

scott

| From: "J. B. Rainsberger" <[email protected]>
| 50 -0500
| Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 16:47:14 -0500
| 
| Adrian Howard wrote:
| 
| > On Friday, January 30, 2004, at 08:41  pm, Randy Miller wrote:
| > [snip]
| > 
| >> Some activities, like code reviews, are
| >> clearly preventative. They keep people from making mistakes. 
| 
| With respect, code reviews are the exact /opposite/ of preventative: 
| they are clearly post-mortem activities.
| 
| A code review happens after the code has been written. By definition, it 
| cannot be preventative. It can only hope to reduce the likelihood of a 
| particular class of mistake /recurring/.
| 
| Pair programming is preventative: it is a code review that occurs before 
| the code is even compiled, at a stage when the participants are actually 
| both willing and able to make changes.
| -- 
| J. B. Rainsberger,
| Diaspar Software Services
| http://www.diasparsoftware.com :: +1 416 791-8603
| Let's write software that people understand
| 
| For more information about AM, visit the Agile Modeling Home Page at www.agilemodeling.com
| 
| 


-- 
scott preece
motorola urbana design center (il67), 1800 s. oak st., champaign, il  61820  
e-mail:	[email protected]	fax:	217-384-8550
phone:	217-384-8589	cell: 217-433-6114	pager: [email protected]

For more information about AM, visit the Agile Modeling Home Page at www.agilemodeling.com
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