Why I like Cyclomatic Complexity and Why I don’t
“Cyclomatic complexity is a software metric used to indicate the complexity of a program. It is a quantitative measure of the number of linearly...
Author Archives: Craig Goldman
Testing the code path less travelled
Do you always create test cases for the code path less travelled – the unusual code path that rarely occurs. Are you sure? On...
Commentary on Comments
This should not be hard – comment the code. Create documentation so code can be read, understood, and easily modified by both yourself (the...
You gotta have style — a C style sheet
Every C programmer, and every programming team that uses C, must have a C style sheet — a description of how the C program...
Your function bodies are too fat
Without peeking, I’m willing to bet your function bodies are too fat. Your procedures are too big. They contain too much detail, too many...
Advice on debugging software from Sherlock Holmes
Here is some timeless advice on debugging software from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. “There is nothing as deceptive as an obvious fact”...
Some things are “volatile”
When writing code for devices, the programmer will encounter some things that are volatile – variables which must be declared with the volatile keyword. ...
You should use a Debugging Mark
Using a Debugging Mark can be one of the easier, yet more powerful tools in your programmer’s tool kit. Yet many developers have never...
For whom are you writing the code
I think it is important to understand for whom you are writing the source code. Once upon a distant time, I was a manager....
Why I don’t “while”
I don’t “while”. I don’t use the C “while” command to build loops. I also don’t “do while”. I think you shouldn’t either. Years...