How to Make Things Faster

Chapter 23. The Reproducible Test Case

Lately I’ve been having trouble with the software  I’m using to write this book. It’s the drop-down list box that lets me choose a character style for the characters I’ve selected. The way it’s supposed to work is that when I click it, a list drops down, showing all my character styles. When I select one, that style is applied to my selection. But sometimes, it doesn’t work. Sometimes, I click on the drop-down list box and my screen just flashes. The box doesn’t open, so I can’t apply the character style I want. I have to restart the application to make it work properly.

Of course, I’ve logged a bug. But I have virtually no hope that they’ll ever fix it. At least not in response to my bug report. The reason is…the sometimes. I don’t know how to reproduce it. I’d love to be able to say, “Just do these three steps, and you’ll see the bug with the Character Style drop-down box, just like I’m seeing it.” But I can’t. The best I’d be able to say is, “Here are my book’s 100+ document files. Have someone edit these files for a few hours until the Character Style drop-down box stops working.”

So, what do you think the company that makes my software is going to do?

1. Play around with my 100+ document files on a system just like mine for a few hours until the Character Style drop-down box stops working.

2. Study all the aspects of their application code that might accidentally be causing the behavior I’m experiencing.

3. Push my bug report to the side ...