Debugging Software

I’m hearing from my friends in the VC community that Java is enjoying somewhat of a renaissance in terms of importance and innovation. Seems like Java’s maturity, feature set, reliability and supporting ecosystem makes it a great fit for the continuous integration, continuous deployment software processes that are fast becoming the norm.

Not surprising given that perspective, the upcoming JavaOne conference and exhibition is sold out. Now held at the same time as Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco, JavaOne is still the place where the very latest products and technologies are on display and where new product announcements are made.

We’ll be there and we’ve got a couple of new things up our sleeve that we will be showcasing for the first time at the show. Stop by our booth #5205 Oct 3-5 and make Java code, performance and security defects a thing of the past.

Given the business we are in, software quality is one of our core motivations. A recent posting on STP, the Software Test Professionals site (http://www.stpcon.com/Item/1027/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=081611-TQA&utm_campaign=NEWSLETTERS) posed the question: “Can You Really Test Quality into a Product?”. The point of the article, that “doing it right the first time” is really the only guarantee of quality, harkens back to the seminal Phil Crosby quality principles that we have talked about in previous postings.

When it comes to producing quality software, it’s hard to argue against setting (and freezing) requirements, communicating them perfectly to all constituencies and then following a well-defined and monitored development process. That’s what we all aspire to. The problem is, just like with airplanes, automobiles and pharmaceuticals, the real world of complexity, human foibles and change always intrudes. That’s why testing exists—to catch defects before they get baked into the final product.

Software testing is the safety net underneath what is hopefully sound process and practice and while no one likes bug fixing, if defects are found early enough in the cycle, properly documented and communicated with enough information to find and fix them quickly, then quality will improve. It’s not the “free” quality that Phil Crosby espoused, but with the tools and techniques that are now available to QA and Dev teams, it’s less expensive that it used to be.

Anyone who follows the complicated and arcane world of patents understands the controversy surrounding what are known as “process” patents. Unlike patents for genuine breakthroughs like the light bulb or the transistor, process patents provide protection for weighty concepts like pricing an item on an e-commerce site or attaching a graphics file to a manufacturing procedure. Nothing wrong with this kind of innovation but not exactly rocket science and not particularly unique.

We just announced (http://www.replaysolutions.com/company/news/62) our third patent award covering various foundational elements of our application record and replay technology. This is rocket science and the technology is definitely unique.

Capturing and managing the literally thousands of non-deterministic conditions that an application can exhibit and replicating them on playback with 100% fidelity is an extremely challenging technical task. The fact that we have already been awarded three patents with nine more pending is fitting testament to the technical achievement of the Replay engineering team.
I salute our engineers for producing truly valuable inventions that have advanced the state-of-the-art for a wide range of application monitoring and diagnostic technologies. Great use of the patent system.