Re: Re: Development: A Structured Problem Area?

Derek Richardson wrote:

> Of course, I don't really expect debugging to be automated. What I
> think might be automatable is the initial production of
> implementation from requirements and that this, done correctly, would
> render debugging a moot point, unless you were the programmer
> maintaining the automation. 

Well, there *is* a general term for the input to an automatable system 
that generates an implementation: it's called "source code".

> The question, in my mind, is still
> whether there is anything intrinsic to producing an implementation
> from requirements that prevents a rule-based solution.

One can certainly come up with a rules-based solution for *specific*, 
well-understood cases. However, I strongly suspect that a general 
solution to the "create a set of requirements that can be used to 
mechanically generate a solution" problem is NP-complete and thus 
unsolvable within the life of the universe.

-- 
Edmund Schweppe -- schweppe-EkmVulN54Sk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx -- 
http://schweppe.home.tiac.net
The opinions expressed herein are at best coincidentally related to
those of any past, present or future employer.


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