Show HN: Build Better Software. A service to help improve code quality. | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Build Better Software. A service to help improve code quality.

buildbettersoftware.com

1 pointnhance6 comments

So the work to launch a new service is obviously quite a bit less than what it takes to offer a new product, but I'm curious if HN thinks there's a market for this sort of thing or not?

I'm debating wether we need to target the education aspects of it more than the end product. This seems like a great service, but I'm not sure its marketed in the right manner.

Is there a better way to market this that might hit software team leads a little better? Anything that might be a turn-off to them in it?

> We'll build you an automated test suite that ensures the most important parts of your application never break again. [emphasis added]

This is an unsupportable claim -- it cannot be done. The Turing Halting problem, and its connection to Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems, prevent it from being possible.

All the above claim tells us is that the people behind the claim are ignorant of the most basic principles of computer science.

The test suite is really only a small part of the service, the other half is the included training along with a set of rules that developers should never be allowed to deliver code with broken tests.

I completely agree that the test suite on its own doesn't give much, but I envision this to be more of a training course with an added bonus of a deliverable.

> The test suite is really only a small part of the service ...

All I am saying is the claim is false, and it's the first thing people will see. Those who understand computer science will instantly realize it's an impossible and maybe intentionally misleading claim.

If all you want to attract are ignorant, possibly litigous customers, no problem.

The problem is with copy writing -- you need to hire a good copy writer. Consider this example -- a patent medicine manufacturer discovers his product is just like all the others, and is no better in any way. He might want to say (honestly) "Our product is just like all the others".

But instead he hires a skilled copy writer, who pens this gem: "No product, at any price, can cure your headache faster than ours!" It's very true, and also very clever.

Advice like this is exactly why I posted this here. I've updated the wording and I'll take a closer look at all of it.

Thank you very much for your feedback, I really appreciate it.

Yours is a constructive response to constructive criticism. So thank you.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com