Coding with errors in mind - a solution?

[secureCoding2dave at davearonson.com (Dave Aronson)]

William L. Anderson wrote:

> Years ago I had to write a Fortran
> program as part of a job interview. The program problem was quite
> simple, and I wrote one that checked for as many errors as I could think
> of. My interviewer wanted to know what took me so long. I didn't get an
> offer.

Years ago (probably not as many), I had to write a C program for a job 
interview.  I also had it test for practically every error I could think 
of, mainly input format errors.  I did get the offer, but I was told 
that the company placed such a premium on performance (it was telephony 
stuff) that I should not be quite so thorough on the errorchecking. 
Silly me, I had thought that they would also value reliability....

> My 2 cents is that people are not really willing to pay for software
> with the kinds of qualities that we talk about in this list (which is
> about more than security).

Well, *most* people anyway.  The avionics, medical, and suchlike fields 
are quite another story.

> Bill Anderson

Is this perchance the Bill Anderson who was my "great grandboss" until 
he left BAE for Cryptek?

-- 
Dave Aronson
http://www.davearonson.com/
"Specialization is for insects." -Heinlein