Quality Code: Software Testing Principles, Practices, and Patterns

Chapter 2. Intent of Code

Have you ever found yourself working in your favorite IDE with all of its bells and whistles (syntax checking, auto-completion, static analysis, and other features) and lamented the lack of one particular feature that hasn’t been invented yet? Yes, I’m referring to the Intention Checker. You know it. The feature you wanted when you thought, “I wish it would code what I meant and not what I typed!” Maybe you wanted it when you were struggling with a tricky algorithm. Perhaps you invoked it when you found that silly one-character bug. Whatever the circumstance, you’ve encountered the complexity of translating intention into implementation.

On the other side, we’ve all asked questions like “What is this code doing?” or ...