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From: thomo@cs.uq.oz.au (John Thomas)
Newsgroups: comp.specification.z
Subject: Re: Prove me wrong
Message-ID: <2222@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au>
Date: 29 Jun 91 00:52:28 GMT
References: <1991Jun28.175058.4987@agate.berkeley.edu>
Sender: news@cs.uq.oz.au
Reply-To: thomo@cs.uq.oz.au
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In <1991Jun28.175058.4987@agate.berkeley.edu> bks@lima.berkeley.edu (Bradley K. Sherman) writes:


>Z will never emerge as a useful tool for real-world programmers and
>analysts because it cannot be expressed on glass tty's.

>Back to the drawing board and come up with an unambiguous syntax
>expressible in the intersection of the ASCII and EBCDIC codes
>and we can make some progress.

>We just don't have the time to muck with Troff or Latex just to write
>down our specs for the systems.  Also we'd like to see the specs online.

>Is this too much to ask?

No, it's not too much to ask !

After all, how long does it take to do something in latex ?
Ans: Close to forever.

The real world just won't stand still while you go and 'latex' the specs.

But then again, how often do you end up with software that doesn't meet its
specification. Or worse yet, according to the USERS it isn't what they
wanted.

Specification languages like Z may result (altough ALL software should have
some form of specification, even if it's in ENGLISH) in a project taking 
longer to complete overall BUT at the end of the day you will HAVE software 
which meets its spec. since Z (or whatever you choose to use) states 
PRECISELY what is required, no IFS or BUTS about it. 

So the extra (?) time spent writing the spec. in Z (or whatever) will
probably pay dividends during the lifetime of the software since you
not only have software which does what it's meant to but in case of 
future modifications to it, the Z specs also serve as documentation.

I also believe there is some kind of Z editor somewhere here at the 
University of Qld

Anyone from University of QLD care to comment ?


Yep, I think thats just about my $0.02 worth for today.

Writing for TRUTH, JUSTICE and CRUELTY (but mainly cruelty),

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EMAIL: thomo@cs.uq.oz.au 			Ph: (07) 365 2726

SNAIL: John Thomas,         	               +------------------+
       c/o Computer Science Department,        |   And remember,  |
       University of Queensland,               | A HONKED nose is |
       Queensland, 4072 Australia. 	       |  a HAPPY nose !  |
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