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Date:Wed Jan 25 13:25:01 2006 
Subject:pop-forum pop language quiz 
From:Jonathan L Cunningham 
Volume-ID: 

Chris Dollin <kers@hpl.hp.com> wrote:

> Jonathan L Cunningham wrote:
> 
> > Whenever I'm tempted to take shortcuts in my own programs, I'm
> > reminded of one occasion when I came across JG sitting, puffing
> > at a cigarette, and just staring at some code he'd just written,
> > for a *long* time before he started testing it.
> 
> Whereas nowadays I spend a long time staring at a test I've just
> written before I start coding for it.
> 
> <fx:eyebrows/>

Ah, you must be more advanced than me, grasshopper. I've not
yet progressed to writing the test data before the specification.

Yesterday I spent three hours writing some detailed specifications -
which only I will ever read! It's easier to write the code when
you know what it's supposed to do ...

Next I'll start believing in formal proofs of correctness, if I'm
not careful ;-).

Jonathan
(<heresy>Rapid prototyping is a way of developing a buggy
and ambiguous specification for the production code</heresy>)