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Date:	Sat, 3 Jan 2004 00:35:46 PST8
From:	"Gregory W. Smith" <gsmith@well.com >
Reply-To:	scoug-programming@scoug.com
To:	scoug-programming@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Programming: QA equals testing, Part One:Detection

Content Type: text/plain

Lynn H. Maxson wrote:
> I would hope that you do not find an assertion like matching
> the solution set to the problem set so abstract as to associate
> it with finding code bugs only and not with insuring that the
> output vision matches the input one.

No matter how sophisticated your specifications, your "solution set"
is not much good when the "problem set" is ill defined. And nearly
every engineering problem I have encounted is an incompletely defined
"problem set". It is not "adapting to change"--it is wanting different
results from our ill defined problem.

As an example, a chemical engineering colleague had a nice little
research program on the "problem" of making soap. Man has been
making soap for thousands of years: fat + caustic + heat --> soap.
My colleague's ill-defined "problem set" revolved around using
"appropriate technology" to make soap. The soap factory a few miles
from the university, on the other hand, had a completely different
fix on the problem of making soap that involved rather intricate
computer controls throughout the plant.

--
Gregory W. Smith (WD9GAY) gsmith@well.com

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