From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,4b06f8f15f01a568 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: fac41,9a0ff0bffdf63657 X-Google-Attributes: gidfac41,public X-Google-Thread: f43e6,9a0ff0bffdf63657 X-Google-Attributes: gidf43e6,public X-Google-Thread: 1108a1,9a0ff0bffdf63657 X-Google-Attributes: gid1108a1,public From: "Robert Martin" Subject: Re: Software landmines (loops) Date: 1998/09/05 Message-ID: <6ssnp6$hv3$1@hirame.wwa.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 388292927 References: <35f23ce2.7649859@news.erols.com> <6snn1b$c90$1@hirame.wwa.com> <35ef7dff.24318728@news.erols.com> <35f79e53.98130474@news.erols.com> <6ssb20$c99$1@hirame.wwa.com> <35F1BB50.C57557E1@s054.aone.net.au> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.2106.4 Organization: WorldWide Access - Midwestern Internet Services - www.wwa.com Newsgroups: comp.lang.eiffel,comp.object,comp.software-eng,comp.lang.ada Date: 1998-09-05T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: Loryn Jenkins wrote in message <35F1BB50.C57557E1@s054.aone.net.au>... >> I haven't read this book, so I can't say if it is good or bad. Probably it >> is very good. However, I don't recognize Mill's authority to add to the >> definition of SP. Dijkstra coined the term, he has the right to say what >> gets added to it, and what gets taken away from it. > >That's getting a bit extreme, isn't it, Robert? > >Academics are forever renegotiating the boundaries in any area of >discourse. I know, in my area, Systemic-Functional Linguistics, there is >an awful lot of discussions as to the details, goals, methods and >boundaries. > >To alienate every academic working within the tradition other than the >founder (Halliday) would seem to me to be nonsense. Granted. On the other hand, lets say that I wrote a book in which I said that the C assert statement was another perfectly acceptable way of implementing Design by Contract. And then lets say that some other guy read my book and quoted it in a newsgroup like this. Would Design by Contract suddenly now incorporate my use of the C assert statement? I think not. I think Meyer, and the folks who have studied his work would stake a stance against such an inclusion. I didn't mean to alienate Harlan Mills work; I expect that it is quite good. But I am also not willing to accept Mathew Heaney's demand that mid exit loops are part of the structured paradigm just because he quoted Mill's book. I'll want more substantiation than that. Robert C. Martin | Design Consulting | Training courses offered: Object Mentor | rmartin@oma.com | Object Oriented Design 14619 N Somerset Cr | Tel: (800) 338-6716 | C++ Green Oaks IL 60048 | Fax: (847) 918-1023 | http://www.oma.com "One of the great commandments of science is: 'Mistrust arguments from authority.'" -- Carl Sagan