Steve Maguire, in his excellent book Writing Solid Code (Microsoft Press, 1995), stresses that many of the best techniques and tools developed for the eradication of bugs came from programmers asking the following two questions every time a bug is found:
In the following sections, we’ll look at some of the bugs Visual Basic 5 programmers are likely to encounter, and I’ll suggest ways of answering both of the above questions where appropriate. Applying this lesson of abstracting from the specific problem to the general solution can be especially effective when carried out in a corporate environment over a period of time. Given a suitable corporate culture, in which every developer has the opportunity to formulate general answers to specific problems, a cumulative beneficial effect can accrue. The more that reusable code is available to developers, the more it will be utilized. Likewise, the more information about the typical bugs encountered within an organization that is stored and made available in the form of a database, the more likely it is that the programmers with access to that information will search for the information and use it appropriately. In the ideal world, all this information would be contributed both in the form of reusable code and in a database of problems and solutions. Back in the real world, one or the other method may have to suffice.
Some Final Thoughts Document all system testing, user acceptance testing, and production bugs and their resolution. Make this information available to the developers and testers and their IS managers. Consider using an application’s system testing and user acceptance bug levels to determine when that application is suitable for release to the next project phase.