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While I do think proofs and planning are both useful, I think that the analogy doesn't work well. The process of producing code is the process of specifying wh

• onion2k 12y ago
  The process of producing code is the process of specifying what the computer should do I'm sure coding is "specifying what the computer should do", but that's not what people are talking about when they talk about specifications. A specification defines what the application should do. Producing code is implementing the specification. Without having any specification first you wouldn't have a clue what the code needs to do, so you wouldn't know what to write. The problem with the analogy is that most people don't understand what a blueprint actually is. A blueprint is an architectural planning document. It defines the building in very broad terms - where the walls go, where there's a staircase, and so on. It doesn't go in to the detail of how the building is constructed. That comes from all the other documentation. As an analogy with software it's a pretty good one - a building's blueprint is equivalent to the high-level planning documentation that any big project needs.