How do you answer the age-old question, 'Is it done right?' Here's a whirlwind tour from defining software characteristics to static code analysis tools.

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Since software development has started, there has been a a lot of chaos, and people always ask 'is it done right?' We get a mix of answers:

• The oldest one: Well, it compiles
• It seems to work
• The universal favorite: The users aren't complaining (Until the user starts complaining or we have to add new feature, then we can figure out how well we did it)
• Most recent answer: The automated test cases (How do you know if you have enough tests, and furthermore what about the things which can't be covered by tests)

How do we evaluate the quality of the code and the developer who has written the code? It is easy enough to evaluate factory workers ( what is produced with acceptable quality), lawyers (cases won) etc.

Well it can be answered if we can measure software quality. Software quality can be defined easily through abstractions, examining it from different perspectives and rating it along different dimensions

Let's put ourselves into a test, let's see if we can read this:

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aculaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdgnieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. It deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the leteerrs in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl msess and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

The preceding text does not contain one single word spelled correctly but proves to be readable. From a product perspective, someone could support that although the text is flawed it does the job, since it manages to remain understandable. But this has the side effect of deteriorating the final reading experience, requiring additional effort to reconstruct the words and phrases. The reader unconsciously stresses his mind in an effort to adapt and decipher the messed-up words. On the other hand, the editor assigned to improve or add to the text would have to cope with this non-standard writing practice delaying the whole process.

Switch the corrupt text for a software product's source code. The reader is now the end user of the product and the editor the developer. They both experience product quality differently, each one from their own views. The end user from a functional perspective, while the developer from a structural one.

Software quality measurement is a quantitative process summing up weighted attribute values, which in part describe specific software characteristics. For each characteristic, a set of such measurable attributes is defined.