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From: dewar@cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar)
Subject: Re: What good is halting prob?
Date: 1995/04/19
Date: 1995-04-19T00:00:00+00:00	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <dewar.798271681@gnat> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 3n285v$9vl@news.cais.com

Randy says:

"And correctness is not subjective.  It simply means that the program will
always behave as expected, regardless of the input.  If by correctness,
you are thinking of "not incorrect", or "acceptably correct ..."

I think that's potentially misleading. Correctness has to do with conformance
to a formal specification, at least the way the term is used when you talk
about "proof of correctness".

Suppose you expect a compiler to always give clear understandable error
messages. That's a reasonable expectation, but you can't formalize it.
So correctness could not capture this informal expectation.

On the other hand, given a formal definition of the language you are compiling,
it is at least conceptually feasible to prove that a compiler gives an error
message of *some* kind for any incorrect program.





  reply	other threads:[~1995-04-19  0:00 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 75+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
1995-03-17  0:24 Should internet support software be written in Ada? Bill Brooks
1995-03-17  8:47 ` Anthony Shipman
1995-03-19 22:06 ` David Weller
1995-03-23 15:05   ` Theodore Dennison
1995-03-24 10:26     ` Fred J. McCall
1995-03-27  9:50       ` Robb Nebbe
1995-03-27 19:43         ` State machines and Goto's (was Re: Should internet support software be written in Ada?) Robert I. Eachus
1995-03-27 23:14           ` Arthur Evans Jr
1995-03-29  0:00           ` Dan
1995-04-01  0:00             ` Mike White
1995-04-04  0:00               ` Robert Dewar
1995-04-06  0:00                 ` Theodore Dennison
1995-04-06  0:00                   ` Norman H. Cohen
1995-04-07  0:00                   ` Tucker Taft
1995-04-07  0:00                   ` Robert Dewar
1995-04-07  0:00                 ` Mike White
     [not found]                   ` <3ma7rt$smt@kaiwan009.kaiwan.com>
     [not found]                     ` <dewar.797514490@gnat>
     [not found]                       ` <3meunj$66u@felix.seas.gwu.edu>
1995-04-20  0:00                         ` CS teachers who can't code their way outta a paper bag Richard A. O'Keefe
1995-03-27 14:24       ` Should internet support software be written in Ada? Theodore Dennison
1995-03-28  0:00         ` Robert Dewar
1995-03-28  9:32         ` Fred J. McCall
1995-03-29  0:00           ` Theodore Dennison
1995-03-29  0:00   ` Robert I. Eachus
1995-03-31  0:00     ` Theodore Dennison
1995-04-05  0:00   ` Wes Groleau
1995-04-07  0:00   ` State machines and Goto's (was Re: Should internet support software be written in Ada?) Wes Groleau
1995-04-07  0:00     ` Robert Firth
     [not found]       ` <D6qyv0.6Jv@nntpa.cb.att.com>
1995-04-19  0:00         ` Fergus Henderson
1995-04-19  0:00           ` Fred J. McCall
1995-04-19  0:00             ` George Haddad
1995-04-20  0:00             ` Mark A Biggar
1995-04-20  0:00             ` State machines and Goto's (was Re: Sho Brian Hanson
1995-04-20  0:00             ` State machines and Goto's (was Re: Should internet support software be written in Ada?) Bill Winn
1995-04-20  0:00               ` Robert Dewar
1995-03-22 23:08 ` Should internet support software be written in Ada? Keith Thompson
     [not found] ` <3me1qs$n4a@theopolis.orl.mmc.com>
     [not found]   ` <3mevmu$8an@felix.seas.gwu.edu>
     [not found]     ` <3mh75i$8eu@rational.rational.com>
     [not found]       ` <3mjihr$iqq@felix.seas.gwu.edu>
     [not found]         ` <3mp20f$80t@kaiwan009.kaiwan.com>
1995-04-20  0:00           ` Academic CS Losers? Phillip Fanous
1995-04-21  0:00             ` Bill Winn
     [not found] ` <dewar.798093453@gnat>
1995-04-20  0:00   ` What good is halting prob? Max Hailperin
     [not found] ` <dewar.798207931@gnat>
     [not found]   ` <cppD78ywq.B31@netcom.com>
     [not found]     ` <dewar.798240702@gnat>
1995-04-19  0:00       ` Problems with proofs Brian Harvey
1995-04-19  0:00         ` Robert Dewar
1995-04-20  0:00       ` Robin Rowe
1995-04-20  0:00       ` Robin Rowe
1995-04-20  0:00         ` Steve Tate
1995-04-20  0:00           ` Apology to Steve Robin Rowe
1995-04-20  0:00         ` Problems with proofs Robert Dewar
1995-04-21  0:00           ` Robin Rowe
1995-04-21  0:00             ` Robert Dewar
1995-04-20  0:00         ` Robert Dewar
1995-04-21  0:00         ` Larry Kahn
     [not found]     ` <3n1fsv$lgd@butch.lmsc.lockheed.com>
1995-04-20  0:00       ` Robin Rowe
1995-04-20  0:00         ` Garlington KE
     [not found] ` <3mrv7h$3mq@larry.rice.edu>
     [not found]   ` <3msnu4$6am@kaiwan009.kaiwan.com>
     [not found]     ` <KUBEK.95Apr18213646@insage.gerii.insa-tlse.fr>
     [not found]       ` <cppD792GC.1uI@netcom.com>
1995-04-20  0:00         ` Teaching OO/C++ Philip Machanick
     [not found] ` <cppD75t6F.47M@netcom.com>
     [not found]   ` <EACHUS.95Apr17172831@spectre.mitre.org>
     [not found]     ` <cppD77Ex6.E77@netcom.com>
     [not found]       ` <3mve9b$gaj@news.cais.com>
1995-04-18  0:00         ` What good is halting prob? Jay M Martin
1995-04-19  0:00           ` Steve Tate
1995-04-20  0:00             ` Jay M Martin
1995-04-21  0:00               ` Steve Tate
1995-04-21  0:00             ` Ray Toal
     [not found]         ` <cppD7880n.32B@netcom.com>
1995-04-19  0:00           ` Randolph Crawford
1995-04-19  0:00             ` Robert Dewar [this message]
1995-04-20  0:00             ` Robin Rowe
1995-04-20  0:00               ` Robert Dewar
1995-04-20  0:00                 ` Robin Rowe
1995-04-21  0:00                   ` Brian Hanson
1995-04-21  0:00           ` sxc
     [not found]       ` <dewar.798172270@gnat>
     [not found]         ` <cppD786FM.1u9@netcom.com>
1995-04-19  0:00           ` Mark A Biggar
1995-04-19  0:00             ` Richard Ladd Kirkham
1995-04-19  0:00               ` Robert Dewar
1995-04-20  0:00                 ` Richard Ladd Kirkham
1995-04-20  0:00                   ` Robert Dewar
1995-04-21  0:00               ` Mark A Biggar
     [not found]           ` <dewar.798207364@gnat>
     [not found]             ` <3n0ka7$b57@hermes.unt.edu>
     [not found]               ` <dewar.798232482@gnat>
1995-04-19  0:00                 ` Mark A Biggar
1995-04-19  0:00                   ` Robert Dewar
1995-04-19  0:00                   ` Steve Tate
     [not found]             ` <cppD78xMv.49w@netcom.com>
1995-04-19  0:00               ` Robb Nebbe
1995-04-21  0:00       ` Robert I. Eachus
1995-04-21  0:00         ` Robert Dewar
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