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Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2011 10:34:02 -0500
From: Hyman Rosen <hyrosen@mail.com>
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Date: 2011-02-09T10:34:02-05:00
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On 2/8/2011 7:03 PM, Randy Brukardt wrote:
> The 1% that are not garbage are written in a language that supports and
> enforces real contracts.

I'm sorry, but I just don't buy it. I sit day after day at a
computer, and my spreadsheets calculate, my e-mail is delivered,
my documents print, my wallpaper updates itself, my compilers
compile my code, and my angry birds wreak havoc on smug pigs.
Characterizing all of these programs as garbage because they fail
to adhere to some Platonic ideal of perfect program design is
ridiculous.

The mechanical world doesn't work that way - cars get recalled,
pipes burst, termites eat wood, stray voltage shocks pedestrians.
Just yesterday, two construction workers were killed just blocks
from where I live:
<http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/133581/two-workers-fall-to-death-at-uws-construction-site>
And yet, we drive, we wash, we build, and we walk without worrying
too much about the perfection of the enabling processes. We strive
to improve, but most of don't labor under the illusion that we can
be liberated from error.