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...And once implemented, the implementation is more specific than the "specification" (a document detailing the requirements). That's why the OP said, correctl
by throwaway1967 11y ago
...And once implemented, the implementation is more specific than the "specification" (a document detailing the requirements).
That's why the OP said, correctly, that code is the highest level of specification, because nothing can be more specialized than code (as you said correctly, an implementation is less specialized than code).
Also cf. Operational Semantics (no, not denotational), which is literally the highest level of specification, and is runnable code.
- dadrian 11y agoCase in point: OpenSSL. More of a TLS specification than the RFC is, nowadays.
- supahfly_remix 11y agoit's more specific, yes, but those differences don't matter if they aren't requirements.
- candu 11y agoThose differences definitely matter if people come to depend on them. This is really a debate between prescriptive and descriptive schools of specification ;)