Goto Fail, Heartbleed, and Unit Testing Culture

The “goto fail” and heartbleed bugs have shaken our confidence in the security and privacy of the internet. Mike Bland believes that a culture of unit testing would greatly reduce the chances that such bugs would escape into production. As part of a group that spread such a culture inside Google, he believes that it’s important for software teams to take on such a culture. He is writing an article that will look at how unit testing could catch the “goto fail” and heartbleed bugs, the costs and benefits of a testing culture, and the experience of instilling this culture at Google. This first installment looks in detail at the “goto fail” bug and how a testing culture would examine that code.