March 17th is Saint Patrick’s day, a celebration for the Patron Saint of Software Quality Engineers. Today will be a great day to lift a glass for your efforts in chasing snakes out of your software.
Of course, Saint Patrick lived before computers and software (he died in 464 AD). He is known as the patron saint of engineers because he brought innovations to the way churches were constructed in Ireland. Saint Patrick is more famous for chasing the serpents out of Ireland.
Imagine if Grace Hopper found a small snake, instead of a moth, in the Mark II computer, we might call defects “snakes” instead of bugs. In this world, the connection to software quality and Saint Patrick would then be more direct.
Who better to represent software quality than the man who chased all of the serpents out of Ireland?