Archive for September, 2008

Impossible Effects

Monday, September 15th, 2008

I saw a great quote today, page 4 of the Computer Science book “Concrete Abstractions”:

Are there effects we can’t achieve no matter what process we specify? (p.4)

Sometimes a program or process can look like it is working during development, but then more and more signs emerge that the process is somehow flawed and it will ultimately fail.  Being able to point these out in advance as processes that simply will not work using the available tools is a critical skill required to avoid costly and futile CS efforts.