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Do you think that formal specifications might alleviate logical bugs to an extent? Yes, it appears that companies won't budget that at all. Many seem to ship f

by _qyyd 4y ago

Do you think that formal specifications might alleviate logical bugs to an extent? Yes, it appears that companies won't budget that at all. Many seem to ship fast, fix later. It is also on the customer, really. Some people expecting software developers to deliver high quality software (with near 100 % code coverage and exceptional performance), but paying them less and less, is not fair. No wonder, some devs are incentivized to skip unit tests or error handling. Because some employer or some customer won't pay for it. This is the status quo that makes me pessimistic. It appears that software development is gluing things together and make it somehow work. This ain't fun for me.

ativzzz 4y ago
I shudder to think about what a formal specification of some of the full stack web projects I've developed would look like. They might take longer than the actual coding of it - especially because specifications change mid project as we build things and realize we actually want them different. Note this is a feature, not a bug, of "agile" development - you learn and adjust on the fly
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
  I tend to make it up as I go along ([0], [1]). It works for me (I just finished up a new SDK, using this technique[2]). However, this would not work for many outfits. It’s just the way that I work. WFM. YMMV. [0] https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/forensic-design-documentation/ https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/forensic-design-docu... [1] https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/evolutionary-design-specification/ https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/evolutionary-design-... [2] https://github.com/LittleGreenViper/LGV_MeetingSDK https://github.com/LittleGreenViper/LGV_MeetingSDK
  - ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
    Hmm… That’s interesting. I seem to have upset people. I’d certainly be interested in knowing why, as my comment directly addresses the parent, and does not coarsen the discourse.
    - ativzzz 4y ago
      > I’d certainly be interested in knowing why Don't dwell on it - save your sanity and move on

by _qyyd 4y ago

ativzzz 4y ago

I shudder to think about what a formal specification of some of the full stack web projects I've developed would look like. They might take longer than the actual coding of it - especially because specifications change mid project as we build things and realize we actually want them different. Note this is a feature, not a bug, of "agile" development - you learn and adjust on the fly

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
I tend to make it up as I go along ([0], [1]). It works for me (I just finished up a new SDK, using this technique[2]). However, this would not work for many outfits. It’s just the way that I work. WFM. YMMV. [0] https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/forensic-design-documentation/ https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/forensic-design-docu... [1] https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/evolutionary-design-specification/ https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/evolutionary-design-... [2] https://github.com/LittleGreenViper/LGV_MeetingSDK https://github.com/LittleGreenViper/LGV_MeetingSDK
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
  Hmm… That’s interesting. I seem to have upset people. I’d certainly be interested in knowing why, as my comment directly addresses the parent, and does not coarsen the discourse.
  - ativzzz 4y ago
    > I’d certainly be interested in knowing why Don't dwell on it - save your sanity and move on