Aim Small, Miss Small: Writing Correct Programs

Resources

• Slides from May 2018

Abstract

We have tons of tools and practices to help us write correct programs, including:

• red squiggly underlines
• type systems
• automated tests
• proofs
• generative testing
• stacktraces
• frameworks
• agile methods
• test-driven development
• logging
• humane error messages
• step debuggers
• simulation

Net result so far: We invest a lot of time and money, and our programs are still full of bugs.

I don't have a silver bullet to offer, nor do I plan to denigrate any of the ideas listed above. But I will say this: I regularly watch programmers aim too large and miss by miles.

To aim small is to:

• plan ahead and catch misconceptions early before they ramify
• make small things, at every level

and then plan to miss anyway:

• expect failures and make them more evident
• divide and conquer when things go wrong

This talk will show you how.