Programming myths, folklore, and recurring bugs
Posted June 18, 2007
- A tooth left overnight in a glass of cola will dissolve.
- If you receive an e-mail with the subject “An Internet Flower for you,” do not open it. It contains a virus that removes important files from your computer.
- If you enter #-9-0 on your phone, you’ll allow scammers to make unlimited long-distance calls from your phone.
Any of these assertions sound familiar? They’re examples of common urban folklore that spread like wildfire via the Internet.
Such legends fool us because they sound plausible. Experts say the most successful myths and folklore contain a mixture of truth, exaggeration and falsity that make them hard to disprove.
Examples exist within virtually all fields, and software development is no exception. How such folklore enters the computer programming culture – and can improve software developer productivity – is what interests Victor Basili, a computer science professor at the University of Maryland-College Park.
Basili’s large collaborative team studies how software developers create new code, where current programming efficiency bottlenecks exist, and how a shared body of knowledge can reduce development time.
His research employs classroom experiments, case studies and group discussions with code developers, combined with interviews with the engineers and scientists who use the code.
