Be Suspicious of Success

Successful software is often buggy, and Leslie Lamport’s Specifying Systems emphasizes the importance of being suspicious of success. Verification is key to ensuring code works for the right reasons, but even then, we must be wary of false positives. The “make it work, make it break” approach helps identify if code is truly working as intended. Happy paths, representing correct behavior, are complemented by sad paths, handling errors, which are equally important to test. Red Blob Games is recommended for insightful content on computer game programming and CS algorithms. Ultimately, questioning success and thoroughly testing both happy and sad paths are essential in developing robust software.

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