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We will deliver defect free software every time - is this motto workable?
- lutusp 14y ago> We will deliver defect free software every time - is this motto workable? No, it isn't. It isn't because the Turing halting problem is known to be undecidable. This doesn't mean defect free software cannot be written, it means this cannot be proven. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halting_problem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halting_problem A quote: "Alan Turing proved in 1936 that a general algorithm to solve the halting problem for all possible program-input pairs cannot exist. A key part of the proof was a mathematical definition of a computer and program, what became known as a Turing machine; the halting problem is undecidable over Turing machines." In layman's terms, this means a company promising defect-free software is just asking for trouble. It is to software development what an "unsinkable" ocean liner like the Titanic is to world travel. > These questions are not rhetorical. On the contrary, to anyone familiar with the basic principles of computer science, the question is rhetorical and the answer is "no".