[AccessD] FW: MS Access Skills Assessment and Testing

Arthur Fuller fuller.artful at gmail.com
Tue May 12 09:46:46 CDT 2009


Way back in the days of DOS and Clipper, I used to write a column called
Seek And Destroy, whose purpose was to present a buggy routine in each
column, and to challenge the readers to correct the problem. Typically I
would receive lots of answers, and then based on the quality of the email
and the quality of the code, make a decision on who would win the prize (a
tee shirt).

You might be surprised at how difficult it is to create a new bug once a
month. We all can do it when trying to write good code, but when you're
trying to write subtly buggy code you suddenly realize how difficult it is.
The emphasis being on "sublly" -- it's easy enough to write a routine with
undeclared variables or trying to add an int and a string, or create a
boundary error when referring to an error, etc. It's much more difficult to
write a routine that a seasoned programmer can read through and not
immediately see the problem, and to puzzle through it for a while until
finally noticing the problem. And if you don't think I am correct, try it.

Since this is the Access group, let's confine the discussion to Access. See
if you can write a buggy procedure or function whose problem is not
immediately obvious.

Arthur



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