Software Life Cycle

Software  doesn't  just  appear  on  the  shelves by magic. That program
shink-wrapped   inside   the   box   along   with  the indecipherable manual and
12-paragraph  disclaimer  notice actually  came  to  you by way of an elaborate
path, through the most  rigid  quality control on the planet. Here, shared for
the first  time  with  the general public, are the inside details of
the program development cycle:
  1. Programmer produces code he believes is bug-free.
  2. Product is tested. 20 bugs are found.
  3. Programmer  fixes  10  of  the  bugs and explains to the testing department
    that the other 10 aren't really bugs.
  4. Testing  department finds that five of the fixes didn't work and
    discovers 15 new bugs.
  5. See 3.
  6. See 4.
  7. See 5.
  8. See 6.
  9. See 7.
  10. See 8.
  11. Due  to  marketing  pressure and an extremely pre-mature product announcement
    based on over-optimistic programming schedule, the product is released.
  12. Users find 137 new bugs.
  13. Original programmer, having cashed his royalty check, is nowhere to be found.
  14. Newly-assembled  programming  team  fixes  almost all of the 137
    bugs, but introduce 456 new ones.
  15. Original   programmer   sends  underpaid  testing  department  a
    postcard from Fiji. Entire testing department quits.
  16. Company  is  bought  in  a  hostile takeover by competitor using
    profits from their latest release, which had 783 bugs.
  17. New CEO is brought in by board of directors. He hires programmer
    to redo program from scratch.
  18. Programmer produces code he believes is bug-free.
  19. See step 2

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