3.
Why words get in the way
: software engineering is a lexicographer??™s delight. It??™s nice to know
someone is happy with the plethora of terms, acronyms, and subtle distinctions that the subject
has spawned. The definitions used in this book are contained in the Glossary at the end. As far
as possible, this glossary is consistent with the IEEE glossary. To make this book as short as possible,
polite phrases such as ???
it is highly advisable to???
have been avoided in favor of a simple if direct
command: ???do this??? or ???do that.??? If the reason for the command isn??™t obvious, it has been added.
4.
Errors, faults, bugs, problems, and defects
. Much time is spent on defining them. A simple
distinction may help: in this book an error or problem is humanly visible; a fault, bug, or defect
is the underlying cause. I have mostly used the word ???
bug.???
Many of the things in this book are so obvious everyone knows about them. Perhaps you know them.
I??™d rather bore you than mystify you.
1.8 Some Basics
1.8.1 Experts and Novices
Of course you??™re not a novice. Whoever suggested that? But, er, just check:
1. The novice has no idea of what to attend to in the mass of data he sees every day. So he attends
to everything, gets overloaded, and misses the vital signs.
2. The expert has anticipated most problems, concentrates on the essentials, and thus has time to
look for the unexpected.
3. There is also the hapless person for whom unwelcome news is simply ignored because it conflicts
with his pre-existing views.
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