News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:A sufficiently detailed spec is code by pkoird on Thursday March 19, 2026 @01:23AM (#47435285)
Meh, it's the age old distinction between Formal vs Informal language.

Simply put: Formal language = No ambiguities.

Once you remove all ambiguous information from an informal spec, that, whatever remains, automatically becomes a formal description.

Re:A sufficiently detailed spec is code by manmal on Thursday March 19, 2026 @01:26AM (#47435304)
Is that true though? If I define a category or range in formal language, I’m still ambiguous on the exact value. Dealing with randomness is even worse (eg input in random order), and can’t be prevented in real world programs.