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Meyer is trying to move up one level of abstraction; the `programs` he is talking about are synonymous with `specifications` so right away those words are being
by ble 11y ago
Meyer is trying to move up one level of abstraction; the `programs` he is talking about are synonymous with `specifications` so right away those words are being used in an atypical fashion.
Calling them `progspecs` would be gross and newspeak-y and calling them `program specifications` would be verbose. Regardless, the theory of these `programs` may indeed be useful.
Also, he's not saying that all relations are progspecs, but defining that progspecs are pairs of (relation, set).
- Garlef 11y agoYes: The theory of relations/chu spaces is used in computer science. See for example [ http://chu.stanford.edu/guide.html http://chu.stanford.edu/guide.html ]
- black_knight 11y agoMathematical definitions are expected to be complete, in that if I define an A to be a pair of a B and a C, with no further restrictions, I will accept any such pair as an A. As an example of a more abstract way of looking at programming, take a look at domain theory. A domain is a set with a relation on it. But opposed to the current topic, there are more restrictions making a beautiful theory, capturing things such as lazy evaluation.