Comments on program specification and testing

The data processing discipline is in a deplorable state, says Roger House. The author reviews an earlier study, in which programmers were largely unsuccessful in finding known errors in a test program. House shows that the fault lies not with the subjects but with the generally poor procedures under...

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Published inCommunications of the ACM Vol. 23; no. 6; pp. 324 - 331
Main Author House, Roger
Format Magazine Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 01.06.1980
Online AccessGet full text
ISSN0001-0782
1557-7317
1557-7317
DOI10.1145/358876.358879

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Abstract The data processing discipline is in a deplorable state, says Roger House. The author reviews an earlier study, in which programmers were largely unsuccessful in finding known errors in a test program. House shows that the fault lies not with the subjects but with the generally poor procedures underlying the writing of much contemporary software, including the test program in question. He analyzes the example, offers several specific critiques, and enumerates good software-writing practices.
AbstractList The data processing discipline is in a deplorable state, says Roger House. The author reviews an earlier study, in which programmers were largely unsuccessful in finding known errors in a test program. House shows that the fault lies not with the subjects but with the generally poor procedures underlying the writing of much contemporary software, including the test program in question. He analyzes the example, offers several specific critiques, and enumerates good software-writing practices.
Author House, Roger
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10.1145/359588.359602
10.1145/366193.366201
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References e_1_2_1_6_2
Weinberg G. M. (e_1_2_1_11_2) 1977
e_1_2_1_5_2
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McGowan C. L. (e_1_2_1_4_2) 1975
Jackson M. A. (e_1_2_1_3_2) 1975
Bleazard G. B. (e_1_2_1_1_2) 1976
e_1_2_1_10_2
e_1_2_1_8_2
Orr K. T. (e_1_2_1_7_2) 1977
e_1_2_1_9_2
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– volume-title: Van Nostrand Reinhold
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– volume-title: National Computing Centre Publications
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