Re: Critique of Ariane 5 paper (finally!)

[Bertrand Meyer <Bertrand.Meyer@eiffel.com>]

I am deeply appreciative to  Ken Garlington for his
willingness to moderate his earlier restatements
of my positions. This greatly facilitates the discussion
and shows openness of mind. Thanks.

On the crux of the issue, I have looked at his messages
and really don't have much to add to what has been written
before, especially the Jezequel-Meyer paper on Ariane
accessible from http://www.eiffel.com, the ISE
"news items of the week" at the same address, and
of course "Object-Oriented Software Construction,
2nd edition" where the Design by Contract ideas
are developed in detail.

As convincingly as I could, my colleagues and I
have explained: why in our view
software technology crucially requires the systematic use of
Design by Contract; why Design by Contract is a
necessary condition to avoid more Ariane-like failures;
and what is missing in this respect in such approaches
as Java, Ada, C++, IDL.

Ken Garlington, and others such as Robert Dewar, disagree
at least in part. I find it hard to understand their position,
but there is now enough published arguments on both sides to
enable every reader to make up his mind.


-- 
Bertrand Meyer, President, ISE Inc., Santa Barbara (California)
805-685-1006, fax 805-685-6869, <Bertrand.Meyer@eiffel.com>
Web: http://www.eiffel.com, with instructions for free download
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