Craig.Everhart%CMU-CS-A@sri-unix.UUCP (06/27/83)
Needed: descriptions of robustness features--designs or fixes that
have made programs meet their users' expectations better, beyond bug
fixing. E.g.:
- An automatic error recovery routine is a robustness
feature, since the user (or client) doesn't then have to
recover by hand.
- A command language that requires typing more for a
dangerous command, or supports undoing, is more robust than
one that has neither feature, since each makes it harder for
the user to get in trouble.
There are many more possibilities. Anything where a system doesn't
meet user expectations because of incomplete or ill-advised design is
fair game.
Your stories will be properly credited in my PhD thesis at CMU, which
is an attempt to build a discrimination net that will aid system
designers and maintainers in improving their designs and programs.
Please send a description of the problem, including an idea of the
task and what was going wrong (or what might have gone wrong) and a
description of the design or fix that handled the problem. Or, if you
know of a program change log and would be available to answer a
question or two on it, please send it. I'll extract the reports from
it.
Please send stories and logs to Robustness@CMU-CS-A. Send queries
about the whole process to Everhart@CMU-CS-A. I appreciate it--thank
you!