The Real Value of Testing

A decade ago, Tony Hoare noted that "The real value of tests is not that they detect bugs in the code but that they detect inadequacies in the methods, concentration, and skills of those who design and produce the code." As usual, Tony saw far ahead of the current reality. At that time, Microsoft Research was very focused on a specific aspect of software development (finding code defects). Over the intervening years, Microsoft Research's efforts in this area grew greatly and our research agenda broadened considerably. This talk will trace the evolution of Microsoft Research's efforts to improve software development and explore how testing fits into the more people-centric approach that we have reached.