Google
the
words
“program
comments”
and
a
paper
written
by
Lin
Tan
appears
first
on
the
list
of
hits.
It
even
beats
out
a
“yourdictionary.com”
definition.
Her
ranking
is
a
testament
to
the
new
electrical
and
computer
engineering
professor’s
expertise.
Program
comments
are
written
in
natural
language
and
used
by
programmers
to
explain
what
they’re
trying
to
accomplish.
Tan’s
research
looks
at
finding
ways
to
use
those
comments
to
detect
software
bugs
and
make
software
more
reliable.
It’s
not
easy
research,
admits
Tan
who
says
comments
are
rife
with
messy
language
and
poor
grammar,
making
them
difficult
to
analyze.
But
it’s
important.
According
to
experts,
software
bugs
cost
the
U.S.
$60
billion
dollars
annually
and
their
effect
on
our
economy
is
similar.
In
one
case,
by
using
comments,
she
discovered
bugs
in
the
web
browser
Firefox’s
code.
She
sent
details
to
Firefox
–
and
its
developers
used
her
data
to
fix
the
problems.
“There
is
a
big
potential
in
utilizing
program
comments,”
she
says.
“They
have
lots
of
information
that
people
can
use.”
Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering