4 ms·

I’d suggest that they are in fact the same thing, and differ only in the level of formality... somewhat akin to the difference between machine code and interpre

I’d suggest that they are in fact the same thing, and differ only in the level of formality... somewhat akin to the difference between machine code and interpreted scripts.

gugagore 6y ago
Both machine code and interpreted scripts are executable, and so they have a formal meaning, at least for a given machine or interpreter. They both feel as "formal" as the other, and much more so than a spec written in e.g. English.
skybrian 6y ago
An informal spec is about getting your intention across to humans who will interpret it in some reasonable way and fill in any gaps. It’s not math or a computer program at all. David Chapman makes a distinction between rational and reasonable behavior, and it’s more like his “making breakfast” example: https://metarationality.com/reasonableness-aspects https://metarationality.com/reasonableness-aspects