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From: DBrown%HI-MULTICS@sri-unix.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.ai
Subject: Re: Stolfo's call for discussion
Message-ID: <552@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 5-Apr-84 10:49:00 EST
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.552
Posted: Thu Apr  5 10:49:00 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 11-Apr-84 06:20:14 EST
Lines: 15

From:  Dave Brown    <DBrown @ HI-MULTICS>

  A side point about Louis Steinberg's response: The accepted wisdom
is actually that AI and plain commercial programming has shown that
specification in complete detail is really just mindless hacking, by
a designer rather than a hack.
  *However* the salesmen of "software engineering methodologies" are
just getting up to about 1968 (the first sw eng conference), and
are flogging the idea that perfect specifications are possible
and desirable.
  Therefore the state of practice lags behing the state of the art
an unconsciousable distance....
  AI leads the way, as usual.

  --dave (software engineering ::= brilliance | utter stupidity) brown