I. M. Wright’s “Hard Code”: A Decade of Hard-Won Lessons from Microsoft®

Glossary

2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5 (also known as ratings, the review system, the curve)

Microsoft’s old rating system, which was changed in the spring of 2006. Ratings of 2.5 and 3.0 were undesirable. Ratings of 4.0 and 4.5 were highly desirable. A 3.5 rating was readily accepted and the most common.

BillG, or Bill

Bill Gates, Chairman of the Board of Microsoft.

black box testing

Testing that treats the product as a black box. You don’t have any access to or knowledge of the internal workings, so you probe it like a customer would—you use it and abuse it till it breaks.

Bohrbug

A predictable and repeatable software issue (bug). It contrasts with an unpredictable and seemingly random Heisenbug. The terms Bohrbug and Heisenbug date back to Jim Gray’s 1985 ...