Thread: Study on the quality of software interfaces

  1. 01-30-2008 #1
    DirkW
    DirkW is offline
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    2

    Study on the quality of software interfaces

    Dear Forum,

    I'm trying to rate the quality of software interfaces and am looking for
    participants for my code-based online survey. As a motiviation to
    participate, a 50 Euro Amazon gift coupon will be drawn. The survey
    takes about 10 minutes to be filled out (maybe a bit longer for
    unexperienced programers). Nevertheless, experienced as well as new
    programers are asked to participate. Code examples are provided in C++, but
    even if it might not be your favorite language, your participation would be highly
    appreciated as the study handles these problems (and even benefits from it). The
    survey is anonymous (except for your e-mail address which is required for the
    coupon) and serves my (hopefully independent) research question.

    The link is:
    study

    The survey will end on 1/31/08.

    Thanx kermi3 for allwowing me to post this here.

    Many thanks and best regards,

    -Dirk

    Posted with permission of kermi3
  2. 01-30-2008 #2
    anon
    anon is offline
    The larch
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Posts
    3,573
    I didn't get past question 2. Why are the radiobuttons not set to a default to begin with if they all need to have a value (or why wouldn't you let people tick checkboxes)? Not good interface...
    I might be wrong.

    Thank you, anon. You sure know how to recognize different types of trees from quite a long way away.
    Quoted more than 1000 times (I hope).
  3. 01-30-2008 #3
    Dino
    Dino is offline
    Jack of many languages Dino's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Chappell Hill, Texas
    Posts
    2,332
    lol - you're not supposed to rate the survey interface! Good one!!
  4. 01-30-2008 #4
    zx-1
    zx-1 is offline
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Posts
    151
    Some style notes:

    Pupils and students are the same thing.

    It's rather redundant to qualify a drop-down menu with "choose only one of the following".

    "Qt" is a GUI toolkit made by Nokia. "QT" is a video codec made by Apple.
  5. 01-30-2008 #5
    CornedBee
    CornedBee is offline
    Cat without Hat CornedBee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    8,895
    The first example contains an error: the class is called Win_Example_Window, but the OnLButtonDown implementation is for a class called Win_Tutorial_Window.
    All the buzzt!
    CornedBee

    "There is not now, nor has there ever been, nor will there ever be, any programming language in which it is the least bit difficult to write bad code."
    - Flon's Law
  6. 01-30-2008 #6
    Dino
    Dino is offline
    Jack of many languages Dino's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Chappell Hill, Texas
    Posts
    2,332
    Quote Originally Posted by CornedBee View Post
    The first example contains an error: the class is called Win_Example_Window, but the OnLButtonDown implementation is for a class called Win_Tutorial_Window.
    That's why I called that one "difficult to follow" and flagged it as "important info missing" and "extra steps included" (or whatever it was).
  7. 01-30-2008 #7
    dwks
    dwks is offline
    Frequently Quite Prolix dwks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    8,057
    HTML isn't really a programming language.

    Code:
    #include <win.h>
    Should that be windows.h?

    I would suggest running the study for more than just a few days . . . I mean, it ends tomorrow! I'd give it a week at least. Some internet users have a weekly cycle. (Like me.) If you do the survery for a week, you'll catch the people who only go online on Tuesdays etc.

    Some of the questions are negative -- "Code is not understandable at all" -- and some are positive -- "There are unneeded intermediate steps". If I didn't understand the code at all, I'd have to click yes for some questions and no for others. I'd change that if possible.

    The code is not of the best standard in many ways, and most of it wouldn't even compile. Count the quotes here.
    Code:
    cerr<<argv[0]<<":can't open'"<<refFile<<"':"
    [edit] Just realized that the quotes were intentional. It didn't look it in the original font. Perhaps a monospace font would be a good idea. [/edit]

    Why is there a semicolon after the closing brace in main() for question 5? Indentation is inconsistent (watch out for Elysia!) -- some lines have several statements. etc, etc.
    Last edited by dwks; 01-30-2008 at 02:58 PM.
    dwk

    Seek and ye shall find. quaere et invenies.

    "Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it." -- Alan Perlis
    "Testing can only prove the presence of bugs, not their absence." -- Edsger Dijkstra
    "The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." -- John Powell

    Other boards: DaniWeb, TPS
    Unofficial Wiki FAQ: cpwiki.sf.net

    My website: http://dwks.theprogrammingsite.com/
    Projects: codeform, xuni, atlantis, nort, etc.
  8. 01-30-2008 #8
    CornedBee
    CornedBee is offline
    Cat without Hat CornedBee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    8,895
    Should that be windows.h?
    Nah, that's <afxwin.h>, actually. It's the MFC example.
    All the buzzt!
    CornedBee

    "There is not now, nor has there ever been, nor will there ever be, any programming language in which it is the least bit difficult to write bad code."
    - Flon's Law
  9. 01-30-2008 #9
    dwks
    dwks is offline
    Frequently Quite Prolix dwks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    8,057
    Well, whatever -- I was pretty sure that <win.h> wasn't right. Shows how much I know about MFC.
    dwk

    Seek and ye shall find. quaere et invenies.

    "Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it." -- Alan Perlis
    "Testing can only prove the presence of bugs, not their absence." -- Edsger Dijkstra
    "The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." -- John Powell

    Other boards: DaniWeb, TPS
    Unofficial Wiki FAQ: cpwiki.sf.net

    My website: http://dwks.theprogrammingsite.com/
    Projects: codeform, xuni, atlantis, nort, etc.
  10. 01-30-2008 #10
    CornedBee
    CornedBee is offline
    Cat without Hat CornedBee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    8,895
    Well, it's sorta anonymized. The class is called CFrameWnd and not WinFrameWnd, and so on. Happened for all the libraries. Qt became R. .Net became NWin or something like that. COM became Bo. I forgot the codename for CORBA. MFC simply became Win.

    It's probably a legal thing. Because if it's an attempt to keep us from recognizing the libraries and making judgements from prior experience with them, it's a pathetic one.
    All the buzzt!
    CornedBee

    "There is not now, nor has there ever been, nor will there ever be, any programming language in which it is the least bit difficult to write bad code."
    - Flon's Law
  11. 01-30-2008 #11
    abachler
    abachler is offline
    Malum in se abachler's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    3,195
    Quote Originally Posted by dwks View Post
    Well, whatever -- I was pretty sure that <win.h> wasn't right. Shows how much I know about MFC.
    [troll]
    MFC Sux!
    [/troll]

    Sorry couldnt help it. Had to give my boss a lecture today on why MFC sucks. He was implying that MFC would have been better for 'The Big Huge App' because one little feature (a slider bar) would have been easier to implement. I had to explain to him that the other 99% of the application woudl have taken 3 times as logn and run half as fast, not to mention that half the custom libraries we are using would have to be rewritten from scratch.
  12. 01-30-2008 #12
    robwhit
    robwhit is offline
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Posts
    2,129
    Quote Originally Posted by abachler View Post
    the application woudl have taken 3 times as logn and run half as fast
    err?
  13. 01-30-2008 #13
    laserlight
    laserlight is offline
    C++ Witch laserlight's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Singapore
    Posts
    28,413
    I think abachler meant "long", not "log(n)"
    Quote Originally Posted by Bjarne Stroustrup (2000-10-14)
    I get maybe two dozen requests for help with some sort of programming or design problem every day. Most have more sense than to send me hundreds of lines of code. If they do, I ask them to find the smallest example that exhibits the problem and send me that. Mostly, they then find the error themselves. "Finding the smallest program that demonstrates the error" is a powerful debugging tool.
    Look up a C++ Reference and learn How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
  14. 01-31-2008 #14
    robwhit
    robwhit is offline
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Posts
    2,129
    still... the math of it.
  15. 02-01-2008 #15
    DirkW
    DirkW is offline
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    2
    Wow, thank you all for the feedback! I will take your suggestions for improvement into regard.
    By the way: you can still participate in the survey, we have extended the time limit to Feb, 5th 2008 .

    Greets
    Mehrnaz
« Previous Thread | Next Thread »
Popular pages Recent additions subscribe to a feed

Similar Threads

  1. Decent TV recording software - ideas?
    By ulillillia in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 04-04-2009, 08:20 PM
  2. Software Design/Test - Redmond, WA
    By IRVolt in forum Projects and Job Recruitment
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 06-11-2008, 10:26 AM
  3. Why C Matters
    By DavidP in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 136
    Last Post: 01-16-2008, 09:09 AM
  4. Adding trial period to software
    By BobS0327 in forum C Programming
    Replies: 17
    Last Post: 01-03-2006, 02:13 PM