Teaching defensive programming in Java
Marsha Zaidman · Journal of computing sciences in colleges · 2004
Teaching the need and methods of producing secure and reliable code is one of the challenges of teaching programming in an academic setting. Some programming languages like Ada are designed to protect programs from common program deficiencies. Other languages like Java are more trusting and rely on the programmer to bullet-proof his/her own code. This article discusses issues that should be addressed through programming style and coding guidelines. Students applying these guidelines produce more reliable programs and learn good programming practices. Programming standards are not a novel concept but one that bears revisiting in light of languages like Java.