Re: Interresting thread in comp.lang.eiffel

["Bob Allen" <ballen3@email.msn.com>]

> Superior to what? In solving what problem?
>
> (Coincidences abound: My networks prof asked the class last time: "Which
is
> the superior LAN protocol: Ethernet, token ring, or token bus?" The answer
> to that one is the same as the answer to your question!)
>
Everyone knows that 10Base2 is the ultimate LAN.  8>}

> > exept that IYHO in this particular case even DbC
> > would have been: Not Enough !
>
> Not Enough, and maybe even Not Superior (for this problem).
>
For any enterprise/multi-enterprise/large scale/non-trivial/etc. system to
be developed with a high level of quality, due diligence must be made to
ensure consistency, understandability, and compatibility.
From my over 12 years experience doing software development on platforms
from the PIC16F84 to
Mainframes to Distributed objects on various UNIX platforms, I have found
that the principles behind
DbC to provide the most stable implementations. The trick is not to
introduce these principles at code time. For maximum effect they need to be
introduced at requirements time and must permeate the entire enterprise
thought processes. NOT JUST SOFTWARE, but a whole way of thinking and
working.
DbC is not magic, it requires a lot of effort on everyone's part. It does
provide you with a set of tools and
if applied with discipline, can produce software of very high quality.
To be used effectively one must have a solid understanding of the problem
domain. The goals need to be clearly stated, and you have to have support
from upper management.
The question is not whether or not software should have contracts, as all
software does. The real question is do you write them down, and to what
degree of formality do you write them down. Do I express them in 'natural
language', pictures, mathematics, or something else.
Please show me a library that does not have some notion of contracts and I
will show you complete chaos. Because if there were no contracts in place,
then any function could be called at any time with any number and type of
parameters, and do anything it wanted to.

Thanks,
Bob Allen
Bob's Weekend Wonders
Training and Consulting