Been reading Zen and the Art lately Raganwald?<p>Pretty sure Pirsig decided in the end that 'quality' could not be defined analytically.<p>I'm sure Webster begs to differ, but I'll stick with Phaedrus on this one. I think quality, like art, is in the eye of the beholder. To some, it might mean robust code, to others, 'beautiful' code, to others, bug free, etc. If it was objective, then everyone could have agreed on it long ago.
Reminds me of:<p><i>We are sponsoring an ongoing Quality Contest. The purpose is to constructively combine two facts of modern life: One, we are all expected to spend our working hours immersed in quality; and two, if you keep your boss immersed in quality, you will be free to finish your work.<p>We therefore announce a technical essay contest. Each month, or whenever we feel like it, we will have a new contest. This month's challenge: define a technical specification for a database to inventory, manipulate, and analyze large quantities of quality. Entries are limited to a maximum of 100 words.</i><p>...from: <a href="http://www.byte.com/art/9704/sec16/art1.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.byte.com/art/9704/sec16/art1.htm</a>
The same piece of code will have a different value from one owner to the other. Thus, since the definition of quality depends on the context, doesn't it make quality inherently subjective?