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So what you're saying is, a spec is no better than documentation and design documents. It doesn't sound materially helpful or like it saves lives - it seems li

• AnimalMuppet 3y ago
  You do not have the right to put words in my mouth, or to claim that your twisted version is what I was saying. A spec is more detailed and more precise than (other) documentation and design documents. ("Other" because the spec is itself part of the documentation, and one of the design documents.) For the safety-critical software itself, you would demand a full, formal spec, not just "documentation". (At least, if you wouldn't, then others would. and they are right to do so.) But if you demand that for the software, doesn't it make at least some sense to ask it of the compiler? And even if you don't think it makes sense for the compiler, it seems reasonable that the standard libraries of the language should face the same requirements as the subroutines that are part of the safety-critical software.