[comp.software-eng] Standard Proposal

cory@gloom.UUCP (Cory Kempf) (11/16/88)

In article <27462@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>, cso@dulcimer.cis.ohio-state.edu 
(Conleth OConnell) writes:
> I have been asked to get opinions (both positive and negative) on the
> feasibility of drafting "uniformity legislation" for software.

Well, since the industry has been a bit lax about self-regulation,
I think that it is going to be necessary.  BUT I don't want a bunch
of congress-critters to come up with their own standards that we 
will have to follow.  

What I propose is a kind of defacto grading system based on bug
severity and number vs. size of the program, number of major features,
etc.  

What I would like is to get feedback from the net on what you think 
that the catagories should be for bugs (ie major feature loss, crashes
the system, no work around vs. minor misfeature/trivial bug/annoyience),
and how to clasify features.

Ideally, these should be fairly objective (to the extent possible).

Also, How do we grade software? 1 class A bug = 5 class B bugs = ?
1 Class A feature = 5 Class B features = ?  with a grade based on
number of (equivilent) Class A featues vs. number of Class A (equiv.)
bugs?

Anyway, I've rambled enough.  Either post of send me e-mail.  The result
that I would like to get out of this is some sort of RFC type document.
(I'll even write the first draft!)

+C
> 
> A government committee is now considering if uniformity legislation
> for software is necessary, warranted, or desirable.  For example,
> should software suppliers be required to warranty their products?
> should suppliers be required to inform users of known bugs?  should
> bug-fixes be distributed at cost? who should be responsible for
> viruses in object code? etc.
> 
> If you have an opinion on software uniformity legislation, please
> express it publicly, and I will forward your thoughts to one of the
> committee members.  If you feel moved to "second" an opinion already
> expressed, please send me e-mail.
> 
> Thank you,
> Conleth S. O'Connell
> 
> Conleth S. O'Connell 	Department of Computer and Information Science
> cso@cis.ohio-state.edu		The Ohio State University
> 				      2036 Neil Ave. 
>  			       Columbus, OH USA 43210-1277
> 
> 
> 
> -=-
>  Conleth O'Connell	Department of Computer and Information Science
>  cso@cis.ohio-state.edu		 The Ohio State University
> 				       2036 Neil Ave.
>  "A keyboard, how quaint."	Columbus, OH USA 43210-1277


-- 
Cory (the last person to escape alive from riverside) Kempf
UUCP: encore.com!gloom!cory
	"...it's a mistake in the making."	-KT