Re: [AM] Code reviews preventative?

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

I'll buy that.

> 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.]

Agreed: it's just a question of where we find the defect. I placed the 
dividing line at "did we integrate yet?" which is releasing to the rest 
of the team. You placed the dividing line at "did we release to the 
customer yet?" I think there's a considerable difference between the two.

> 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).

I have never seen Pair Programming without TDD, although I've done TDD 
without Pair Programming. I may implicitly assume that Pair Programming 
implies TDD. :)
-- 
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
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