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Discover the laws in a current code base? They are usually in the “tests” folder. So anything capable of extracting unit tests is extracting “laws”. One migh

• skissane 16d ago
  I don’t think that’s right. Unit tests check whether a specific code module is implemented correctly given its (implicit) specification. Good “laws” are independent of the structure of the code. Tests may be a useful source for inferring what the laws are, but much of the actual content of the tests aren’t “laws” at all.
  • serf 16d ago
    I think the premise is more that if one is given a grouping/constellation of unit tests that one can derive generalized laws by looking at what behavior those tests were checking for or against. if there are a dozen unit tests trying to determine if some regex can escape a sensitive area, then one can derive a generalized 'don't let the regex escape from here' type rule -- or at least you could theoretically. I'm sure in reality that'd be a big minefield much like harness self-skill-writing has been.
  • schlich 16d ago
    you might be interested in property-based testing, which somewhat enumerates tests based on invariance and induction
• actionfromafar 16d ago
  From the codebases I have seen the "laws" are scattered between unit tests and lots of little tests and assertions in the actual code, plus cultural norms and "do it like this" patterns. But a good start could be found in the unit tests.