Chapter 8
Correctness and Robustness
In previous chapters, we have covered the fundamentals of programming. The chapters that follow will cover more advanced aspects of programming. The ideas that are presented will be a little more complex and the programs that use them a little more complicated. This chapter is a kind of turning point in which we look at the problem of getting such complex programs right.
Computer programs that fail are much too common. Programs are fragile. A tiny error can cause a program to misbehave or crash. Most of us are familiar with this from our own experience with computers. And we've all heard stories about software glitches that cause spacecraft to crash, telephone service to fail, and, in a few cases, people to die.
Programs don't have to be as bad as they are. It might well be impossible to guarantee that programs are problem-free, but careful programming and well-designed programming tools can help keep the problems to a minimum. This chapter will look at issues of correctness and robustness of programs. It also looks more closely at exceptions and the try..catch statement, and it introduces assertions, another of the tools that Java provides as an aid in writing correct programs.
This chapter also includes sections on two topics that are only indirectly related to correctness and robustness. Section 8.5 will introduce threads while Section 8.6 looks briefly at the Analysis of Algorithms. Both of these topics do fit into this chapter in its role as a turning point, since they are part of the foundation for more advanced programming.
Contents of Chapter 8:
- Section 1: Introduction to Correctness and Robustness
- Section 2: Writing Correct Programs
- Section 3: Exceptions and try..catch
- Section 4: Assertions
- Section 5: Introduction to Threads
- Section 6: Analysis of Algorithms
- Programming Exercises
- Quiz on This Chapter