On Feb 11, 2008 8:28 PM, Darren New <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > where he basically says you don't really understand nor communicate > > something unambiguously until you do it in software. > > Because, ya know, nobody ever writes software that does the wrong thing > because they don't understand what problem they're trying to solve when > they start. :-) > > Logically speaking, of course, it's possible nobody understands anything > and Sussman could still be right, but I think he's implying that writing > it in software means you understand. >
I very much agree with Sussman. Indeed in an earlier exchange with Darren I wrote: >Software development is difficult because of the >issues you mention many of which can be characterized >as ambiguity. Indeed one might say that software >development is simply the reduction of ambiguity >to zero. So software requires us to reduce the ambiguity around a problem to zero. The obvious implication is that once we have done that, then we understand the problem. So I am going to stand behind this statement: Software development is simply the reduction of ambiguity surrounding a problem to zero. Further this is a constuctive plan for the creation of programs. Keep asking, "What do I not understand?" Then reduce that to zero. BobLQ "I can not do any better than that." -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-lpsg
