The Importance of Software Quality

A crucial topic that deserves discussion is: when is software quality extremely necessary?

To illustrate, let’s imagine a hypothetical situation: a global beverage company decides to create a points program. The customer receives a code from the bottle cap, goes to the website, registers, enters the code, and receives points that can be used to purchase various products.

In this case, whether the software runs quickly or not, or if there are small UI bugs, it doesn’t affect the quality of the company’s main product: the beverage. The following week, the customer will likely buy another beverage after the marketing strategists launch the next promotion.

However, this situation does not apply to all types of companies, especially those offering software subscriptions, banking services, digital systems, and even e-commerce.

For these companies, customers are directly interested in the software solutions they offer. When these customers notice system failures, unwanted errors, or even a confusing user interface, they might lose confidence in the company’s main product. This can lead them to choose competitors that offer more robust and reliable software solutions.

Therefore, it is essential that technology companies prioritize software quality, perhaps even more than merely achieving project milestones, as customer loyalty depends on factors such as:

💨 Speed: Agile software provides a more satisfying user experience.
💎 Data Integrity: Ensuring customer data is accurate and secure is fundamental.
🔐 Security: Protecting user information from threats is a critical priority.
🖥️ Usability: An intuitive and bug-free interface improves customer experience and reduces frustration.

Experience ⚗️

Let’s consider a scenario where a method was initially developed as follows:

public static long sumOfNumbers(long n) { long sum = 0; for (long i = 1; i <= n; i++) { sum += i; } return sum;
}

However, with a more detailed review, it can be optimized using the formula for sum of arithmetic series:

public static long optimizedSumOfNumbers(long n) { return (n * (n + 1)) / 2;
}

let’s execute this two methods to see the difference when ‘n’ has a high value.

public class Main { public static void main(String[] args) { long startTime = System.nanoTime(); long result = sumOfNumbers(1000000000L); long endTime = System.nanoTime(); long elapsedTimeNano = endTime - startTime; System.out.println("Elapsed Time (Nanoseconds): " + elapsedTimeNano); double elapsedTimeSeconds = (double) elapsedTimeNano / 1_000_000_000.0; System.out.println("Elapsed Time (Seconds): " + elapsedTimeSeconds + " seconds"); } public static long sumOfNumbers(long n) { long sum = 0; for (long i = 1; i <= n; i++) { sum += i; } return sum; } public static long optimizedSumOfNumbers(long n) { return (n * (n + 1)) / 2; }
}

with this we got this output:

Elapsed Time (Nanoseconds): 247997400
Elapsed Time (Seconds): 0.2479974 seconds

and this is the output when we call the efficient method:

Elapsed Time (Nanoseconds): 900
Elapsed Time (Seconds): 9.0E-7 seconds

In conclusion, the comparison between the two methods highlights the importance of optimizing code for efficiency, especially when dealing with large values of n. While the original method took 0.2479974 seconds to compute the sum for n = 1,000,000,000, the optimized method achieved the same result in just 9,0 x 10-7 seconds. This drastic reduction in execution time demonstrates the power of algorithmic optimization in improving software performance.

As software developers, it is crucial for us to continually review and refine our code to ensure that it not only functions correctly but also operates efficiently. By prioritizing efficiency and employing optimized algorithms, we can deliver better user experiences and maximize the resources of our systems.

Remember, a small optimization in code can lead to significant improvements in performance, making our software more reliable, responsive, and scalable. So, let’s embrace the ethos of optimization and strive to write code that not only works but works efficiently.