From: AdaMagica <christ-usch.grein@t-online.de>
Subject: Re: Is the Documentation In a spec File Usually Enough For You ?
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2018 10:54:23 -0700 (PDT)
Date: 2018-10-18T10:54:23-07:00 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <80e23f09-06ac-4112-9b7f-e765266a952d@googlegroups.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <pqafta$utu$1@dont-email.me>
Am Donnerstag, 18. Oktober 2018 19:29:16 UTC+2 schrieb Jeffrey R. Carter:
> On 10/18/18 11:06 AM, AdaMagica wrote:
> > Am Dienstag, 16. Oktober 2018 18:57:51 UTC+2 schrieb Jeffrey R. Carter:
> >>
> >> That the function returns the same password for the same inputs, and the
> >> passwords have all the desirable features for generated passwords: they appear
> >> random, contain characters from all the major food groups, and give away nothing
> >> about the master password.
> >
> > This is what I mean. There is no requirement defined for this operation. So how can I as a user know what I get? So you have to put this in the spec as a description. Then a user can make test to check whether the claims are true.
>
> I'm not sure I agree. This is package Password_Generation, function Generate, a
> service to generate passwords. I think that is clear from the code and needs no
> further explanation. The description above is simply the definition of a good
> generated password.
>
> I don't think this spec should be a tutorial on password generation. Someone
> looking at it wants to generate passwords, and should know why one generates
> passwords and what the qualities of a good generated password are.
So just say WHAT it does, not HOW it does.
If you do not say that your code produces a good password, how can the user know he will get a good password? He must trust JC because he possibly knows him personally or because he uses other well defined and well written sw from him.
But I claim: In SW, there must be no such trust. JC may just have been being lazy in this case.
And I further claim there are tons of bad SW around. Just because a unit's name says XXX, there is no guarantee that it indeed does XXX.
If I were looking for password generators, I would not waste my time in trying some that don't claim to produce good ones; instead I'd pick one with such a claim and test it thoroughly.
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2018-10-18 17:54 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 25+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2018-10-15 0:42 Is the Documentation In a spec File Usually Enough For You ? patrick
2018-10-15 5:44 ` Henrik Härkönen
2018-10-15 7:22 ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
2018-10-15 7:42 ` Niklas Holsti
2018-10-15 10:05 ` AdaMagica
2018-10-15 11:25 ` patrick
2018-10-15 11:57 ` Markus Schöpflin
2018-10-15 13:02 ` patrick
2018-10-15 16:50 ` Jeffrey R. Carter
2018-10-16 9:57 ` AdaMagica
2018-10-16 16:57 ` Jeffrey R. Carter
2018-10-18 9:06 ` AdaMagica
2018-10-18 15:24 ` Brad Moore
2018-10-18 17:29 ` Jeffrey R. Carter
2018-10-18 17:54 ` AdaMagica [this message]
2018-10-18 18:50 ` Dennis Lee Bieber
2018-10-18 20:07 ` Jeffrey R. Carter
2018-10-21 15:20 ` AdaMagica
2018-10-21 18:56 ` Jeffrey R. Carter
2018-10-22 16:04 ` AdaMagica
2018-10-22 19:13 ` Jeffrey R. Carter
2018-10-23 10:00 ` AdaMagica
2018-10-18 21:24 ` Randy Brukardt
2018-10-19 7:39 ` J-P. Rosen
2018-10-20 1:27 ` Randy Brukardt
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