Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Pseudo-Predicates in Specifications

Following on from my previous blog entry in which I asserted that I don't normally bother just referencing other people's blog, here's another reference :)

It's quite a long article, but well written and definitely makes it's point.  To anyone writing specifications, and to anyone reading them (which I think covers just about everyone who's reading this!), it's well worth a read:

Tasty Beverages

It's talking about predicates in the context of security, but I think the lesson is actually broader than that - I don't think it's all that unusual to see pseudo-predicates in pretty much any form of specification, and the danger with them is that the human brain is pretty adept at filling in what it thinks is missing (hence, they can be hard to spot).  Alas, what the brain makes up isn't always what the author of the spec was thinking, leading to the wrong thing being developed.

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