2018-04-07 23:18

1 files changed, 22 insertions, 9 deletions

diff --git a/software/chapter.tex b/software/chapter.tex
index 26636f1..14693ee 100644
--- a/software/chapter.tex
+++ b/software/chapter.tex
@@ -158,17 +158,30 @@ written by generation upon generation of student.  %
 Worse, software is sometimes abandoned or left untouched to become a crucial but arcane component

 of a scientific research project.  %

 

-\textbf{Testing.} \cite{SandersRebecca2008a, PrabhuPrakash2011a}

+\textbf{Lack of testing.} \cite{SandersRebecca2008a, PrabhuPrakash2011a, JoppaLucasN2013a}

 Testing is a huge part of software development practices, but many researchers do not engage in

-sufficient testing of their software...  %

-The issue of testing is also consistent with the system of peer review...

-Software is not typically peer reviewed...

+sufficient testing of their software.  %

+Without testing, even small software projects can rapidly ``get out of hand''---they can become

+unsustainable and unmaintainable.  %

 Especially for domain-specific computational software, determining the ``correct outcome'' to test

 against is often infeasible.  %

-

-\textbf{Optimization.} \cite{PrabhuPrakash2011a}

-Scientists do not optimize for the common case.  %

-Scientists are unaware of parallelization paradigms.  %

+Software is not typically peer reviewed, so a lack of software testing is often a weak link in the

+loop of critical self assessment that science depends upon.  %

+On the positive side, testing can be an easy-to-add development practice with huge rewards.  %

+Well written tests can be a programmers best friend: helping her to ensure that her code has met

+all of the given requirements.  %

+Well written tests allow programmers to optimize without worrying about breaking crucial components

+of their software.  %

+

+\textbf{Struggles with optimization.} \cite{PrabhuPrakash2011a}

+Sometimes, a scientific application requires performant code.  %

+Scientists typically struggle to write such code.  %

+They may struggle with parallelization paradigms, or they may not understand what is limiting the

+speed of their software.  %

+They may not have good intuitions about how long certain operations should take, or what patterns

+could be used to speed up execution.  %

+Scientists typically do not use profiling tools which help them see which parts of their program

+would benefit most from optimization.  %

 

 \section{Good-enough practices}  % ================================================================

 

@@ -274,7 +287,7 @@ Don't be afraid to be verbose, most programming environments have tab completion
 not all that hard to type.  %

 Try to follow the recommended style for your language, but don't obsess about it.  %

 

-\textbf{Avoid premature optimization.} \cite{WilsonGreg2017a}

+\textbf{Avoid premature optimization.} \cite{WilsonGreg2014a, WilsonGreg2017a}

 Don't get pulled into the trap of trying to make things perfect the first time.  %

 Software design is typically a very iterative process, and for good reason.  %

 Write for correctness first, and if it works, consider optimization.  %