EAC - Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

Name : | Scott Hunsaker
Organization : | Hart Intercivic
Post Date : | 9/30/2005
Section Comments
Section : | .20.5
Page no. : | 5
Line no.: |
Comment : | 127 Comment: All parameters shall either be validated for type and range on entry into each unit or the unit comments shall explicitly identify the type and range for the reference of the programmer and tester. Validation may be performed implicitly by the compiler or explicitly by the programmer; Recommended change: Design and coding practices shall prevent methods from exhibiting undesirable behavior due to erroneous input parameter values. Validation may be performed implicitly by the compiler or explicitly by the programmer when the validity of the input range cannot be guaranteed; Rationale: "If you check data passed as parameters in every conceivable way in every conceivable place, your program will be fat and slow. What's worse, the additional code needed for defensive programming adds complexity to the software. … Think about where you need to be defensive, and set your defensive programming priorities accordingly." [McConnell 5.6]