Code readability may be defined as the convenience with which the source code is understood and modified. Code readability is of vital importance when maintaining larger legacy codebase and working in teams. If the code is easy to read, it would be easy to debug, refactor, enhance and maintain, thereby reducing the lifecycle cost of software product. As readability directly impacts software quality, researchers have proposed adding a separate phase during development focused on improving code readability. Although, code readability is subjective to human judgement, static analysis tools can provide a fair estimate on various factors impacting readability such as indenting, naming and commenting. As a programmer, follow the tips provided below to create self-documenting software program, which can be understood conveniently by other programmers during it's lifetime.
This blog post lists the interesting etymological facts behind some basic terms in software technology.
SOFTWARE
The word software was initially coined by Paul Niquette in 1953 to differentiate it from hardware (used for computer itself). The term "software" in a computing context was first published by American statistician John W. Tukey, who published the term in "The Teaching of Concrete Mathematics" on January 9, 1958. Tukey wrote:
"Today the 'software' comprising the carefully planned interpretive routines, compilers, and other aspects of automative programming are at least as important to the modern electronic calculator as its 'hardware' of tubes, transistors, wires, tapes and the like."
John Wilder Tukey
Tukey referred to computers as "calculators", as the use of the word computer for a machine was not common at that time. Richard R. Carhart used the term "software" in the Proceedings of the Second National Symposium on Quality Control and Reliability in Electronics: Washington, January 9-10, 1956. Carhart wrote:
"In short, we need a total systems approach to reliability. There are four aspects of such an approach which have an important bearing on how a reliability program is shaped. First, the scope of the program should include the entire system. As an example a missile system includes the vehicle and warhead, the auxiliary ground or airborne equipment, the support and test equipment, and the operating personnel. In addition, the interactions between these various elements, hardware and software (people), must be recognized and included as the glue that holds the system together."
BUG
Grace Hopper is credited with finding the first computer bug in 1947 at the Computation Laboratory in Harvard where she traced an error in the Harvard Mark II to a moth trapped in a relay. This bug was removed and taped to the log book. However, use of the word 'bug' to describe defects in mechanical systems dates back to at least the 1870s, perhaps especially in Scotland. Thomas Edison used the term in his notebooks and letters.
First Computer Bug - 1947
VIRUS
Fred Cohen used the term virus in his 1984 paper "Computer Viruses Theory and Experiments", where he credits Len Adleman with coining it. Although Cohen's use of virus may have been the first academic use, it had been in the common parlance long before that. A mid-1970s science fiction novel by David Gerrold includes a description of a fictional computer program called VIRUS that worked just like a virus (and was countered by a program called ANTIBODY). The term "computer virus" also appears in the comic book "Uncanny X-Men" No. 158, published in 1982.
Novel by David Gerrold Using the Term Virus
VARIABLE
The term "variable" was mentioned in programming for the first time in 1816 in the sense of “quantity that can vary in value”. This word is derived from Latin "variare" which means "to change".
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