The Codeless Code: Case 49 Banzen's investigation
======
The abbot of the Laughing Monkey Clan observed that
software produced by the abbey’s north hall had more defects
than software produced by any other group of monks. Java
master Banzen was called in to investigate.
The master selected a suitable conference room in the north
hall. Seating himself within, he motioned for the abbot to
join him. When the abbot was also seated the master
unpacked his lunch from a paper sack and began eating. The
abbot waited silently, with ever-waning patience.
Finally the master finished the last bite of his meal. He
crumpled up the paper sack and threw it at the waste bin in
the corner of the room. The ball missed the rim by a good
three feet, bounced off the wall, and rolled to a stop next
to the bin. Banzen went out.
The abbot followed, thinking: Banzen’s devotion to
perfection is too much praised in the temple. Still, the
rising moon makes an excellent circle but a poor square.
Banzen then bade the abbot to summon the monks of the north
hall one by one. Each monk was told to meet the master and
the abbot outside the selected conference room. Each was
also instructed to bring printouts of all code he had
authored within the past thirty days.
Whenever a monk appeared, Banzen said: “Give me your code
listings and wait in that room, for I have been asked to
investigate you.” Each monk entered the conference room as
he was told, whereupon Banzen closed the door, leaving the
monk in the room alone. Banzen then placed the monk’s papers
face-down on an ever-growing pile outside the room. When
precisely five minutes had passed Banzen would open the door
and enter, saying, “You have been investigated.” The monk
would then be dismissed.
The abbot thought: Banzen’s moon is lost behind a cloud.
Still, the night is not yet over.
Banzen repeated this ritual for all twelve monks of the
north hall. When the last monk had departed, Banzen left the
abbey without another word. Of the listings he had examined
not a single page.
The abbot said to himself: a wind has scrubbed the sky, and
Banzen’s moon is not even half-full. I must summon the head
abbess.
Thus was old Jinyu called to the conference room. She in
turn summoned Banzen.
“What is the fault of the north hall?” asked Jinyu.
Banzen pointed. “That ball of paper still lying in the
corner.”
Qi’s commentary
What was done was expected; but what was not done was what
mattered. If you cannot see the fault, the north hall awaits
you.
Qi’s poem
A mountain of source code towers in the hall:
the labor of twelve monks from moon to moon.
A merchant’s scale may balance fish against coins,
