Re: Program bugs and Game bugs

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Eric Shepherd writes ...
> 
> In article <34F2C0E5.FAD56C7D@swbell.net>, rubywand@swbell.net wrote:
> ....
> 
> 
> >     "The game Wolf-3D" is not the same as the Wolf-3D program.
> 
> Uh... yes... it is. :)

     Uh... no... it is not.

 1. When the game is being played, a great deal of the code being
executed is ToolBox code programmed by Apple. No ToolBox code = no game.

 2. The game exists only while it is running on the computer. Even if we
stretch the definition of "program" to include graphics and sound data,
these are, still, just files residing on hard disk.

 3. When users say that they like your game they are talking about the
intro music, neat 3-D displays, sound effects, and the fun of shooting
bad guys. They could not care less about the JSR's, LDA's, BCS's, etc.
in the program.



> 
> > executes. If the program performs all of its instructions as intended,
> > the program is free of bugs whatever happens on the display monitor or
> > comes out through the speakers.
> 
> Again, no such thing as a bug-free program.
>

     Agreed; in the Real World, any program of any decent size has bugs.


> ....
> 
> 
> >      If you don't want your Game to have a bug, don't CALL one.
> 
> Once again... *I did not know there was a bug in the OS until after the
> game was released*.  Only one computer exhibited signs of trouble and only
> occasionally, and statistically speaking, it was acceptable to ship the
> game -- especially since we couldn't isolate the problem to Wolf 3D at the
> time.
>

     Yes; this sort of thing happens all the time. You spend years
developing a program. Next, you hand it to play testers, make
adjustments, and hand it back to play testers until 'everything is
right' and no one reports a bug. Then, at the last minute, you get The
Brilliant Idea and add an enhancement, do a quickie check, and send off
the program.

     Sure enough, the 'enhancement' introduces a bug. I've done the same
thing enough times to know better not to do it again-- except, darn it,
the change is always such a neat idea and it 'couldn't possibly mess up
anything'.


>
> ....
> The only mistake I made was releasing a new Apple II title to a community
> that includes narrow-minded cretins such as yourself, Rubywand.
>

     Better to be a cretin who will admit and learn from mistakes, than
a programming god who will not.



Rubywand