What does the word "Quality" mean?
weblog.raganwald.com
weblog.raganwald.com
Pretty sure Pirsig decided in the end that 'quality' could not be defined analytically.
I'm sure Webster begs to differ, but I'll stick with Phaedrus on this one. I think quality, like art, is in the eye of the beholder. To some, it might mean robust code, to others, 'beautiful' code, to others, bug free, etc. If it was objective, then everyone could have agreed on it long ago.
The old line was that "Jazz can't be taught, but somehow you have to learn it." Modern musical teaching and theory amply demonstrates that Jazz can be taught. It just took time for the pedagogical techniques to catch up with the modern practice.
We may not yet have a complete definition of what makes Quality code, but that does not imply that no such definition can exist.
The hard part isn't finding the differences between good and bad code. The hard part is finding differences between good code and average code.
There is also a big difference between pointing out examples of quality code and being able to establish guidelines that lead to quality code.
In other words, I do think that much of what determines "quality" code comes down to what aspects the person viewing the code believes are the most important.
We are sponsoring an ongoing Quality Contest. The purpose is to constructively combine two facts of modern life: One, we are all expected to spend our working hours immersed in quality; and two, if you keep your boss immersed in quality, you will be free to finish your work.
We therefore announce a technical essay contest. Each month, or whenever we feel like it, we will have a new contest. This month's challenge: define a technical specification for a database to inventory, manipulate, and analyze large quantities of quality. Entries are limited to a maximum of 100 words.