bks@lima.berkeley.edu (Bradley K. Sherman) (06/15/91)
I've always found the concept of a "specification language" to be a bit dubious in the context of the programming projects that I have been involved in. I can remember being told by a superior that I should not have used the word "algorithm" during a meeting that we had with upper-management types from one of our clients. What they would have made of a document written in a synthetic language is amusing to contemplate. Could proponents of the use of specification languages (other than natural languages) please give doubters like me a little taste of the art? I won't ask for a specification for, say, producing and tracking purchase orders, or for a complicated but well defined function like qsort(). How about specifying the C function abs() rendered in English like this: abs() returns the absolute value of its integer operand. ------------------------------------- Brad Sherman (bks@alfa.berkeley.edu) History does not repeat but it does rhyme --Mark Twain
orville@weyrich.UUCP (Orville R. Weyrich) (06/16/91)
In article <1991Jun14.171653.26325@agate.berkeley.edu> bks@lima.berkeley.edu (Bradley K. Sherman) writes: > > I've always found the concept of a "specification language" to be >a bit dubious in the context of the programming projects that I have >been involved in. I can remember being told by a superior that I >should not have used the word "algorithm" during a meeting that >we had with upper-management types from one of our clients. What they >would have made of a document written in a synthetic language is >amusing to contemplate. > > Could proponents of the use of specification languages (other >than natural languages) please give doubters like me a little taste >of the art? How about graphical specification languages like data flow diagrams, hierarch diagrams, etc. Non-computer upper management types seem to relate to these fairly well. -------------------------------------- ****************************** Orville R. Weyrich, Jr., Ph.D. Certified Systems Professional Internet: orville%weyrich@uunet.uu.net Weyrich Computer Consulting Voice: (602) 391-0821 POB 5782, Scottsdale, AZ 85261 Fax: (602) 391-0023 (Yes! I'm available) -------------------------------------- ******************************