Robust Communications Software(1)

fireaxe

    The software achitecture should alse make it possible to add a new capability without cloning and tweaking existing software. And when a new capability is not required by all customers, it should be possible to make it optional without resorting to the use of conditional compilation (#ifdef, for example). These regrettably common techniques of clone-and tweak, and the indiscriminate use of conditional compilation, lead to unmaintainable and incomprehensible code.

 

    Because extreme systems are large and complex, they need special debugging tools. Common techniques such as setting breakpoints and writing information to the console fail to pinpoint problems quickly and cannot be used in live systems. To improve productivity and support debugging in the field, extreme systems must implement comprehensive trace tools and software logs.