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Delivering provably-correct code

A while ago on this blog I mentioned the idea that a programmer’s job is not to deliver code, but to deliver provably correct code. Twitter responses ranged from strongly negative (wrong on so many levels I don’t know where to start) to mildly negative (not completely wrong, but incompletely right). There were no positive responses.

The converse of deliver provably correct code is deliver crap code, as I read it. Yet, it seems unlikely that is what those people meant to say. Unfortunately, no one followed up to explain their interpretation. I can only speculate that my choice of words has different implications for them than it does for me.

Since no one wants to explain their interpretation of the phrase, I’ll explain mine.

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