- From: <scott_boag@us.ibm.com>
- Date: Mon, 6 May 2002 15:45:33 -0400
- To: Jonathan Robie <jonathan.robie@datadirect-technologies.com>
- Cc: spec-prod@w3.org, w3c-query-editors@w3.org, www-qa@w3.org
> This sounds like it might force a particular writing style and constrain > the sentence structures used by editors. Maybe. > I am concerned about anything that would increase the work load or the > constraints on editors. Personally I think that testability of a specification should be a priority issue. Yes, it might increase work load in the short term. On the other hand, it might decrease workload in a way. Too often we think of the specification as prose. What it really must be is a series of testable statements. Let someone else write a tutorial. By thinking of specifications as a kind of legal document, you may reduce the overall amount of verbiage, and thus reduce the text and the number of errors that can creep in. But this is just some arguable speculation. Really, hell if I know. I do know that it's always a good idea to engineer with testing in mind. Too often testing and verification is left as an afterthought. -scott |---------+--------------------------------------------> | | Jonathan Robie | | | <jonathan.robie@datadirect-techno| | | logies.com> | | | | | | 05/06/2002 03:10 PM | | | | |---------+--------------------------------------------> >----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | To: scott_boag@us.ibm.com, spec-prod@w3.org, w3c-query-editors@w3.org | | cc: www-qa@w3.org | | Subject: Re: Testable assertion tagging for W3C specifications | >----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| At 01:29 PM 5/6/2002 -0400, scott_boag@us.ibm.com wrote: > Encourage document editors to view some of the sentences as "test > assertions" and to write them in a style that conveys precisely what > they declare. > Explore possibilities for machine processing of testable sentences in > the future. This sounds like it might force a particular writing style and constrain the sentence structures used by editors. Am I reading too much into this? I am concerned about anything that would increase the work load or the constraints on editors. We've got an enormous amount of work to do as it is. Jonathan
Received on Monday, 6 May 2002 15:54:02 UTC