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Linus Says No to 'Specs'

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the hypothetically-speaking dept.

auckland map writes to tell us about an interesting debate that is being featured on KernelTrap. Linus Torvalds raised a few eyebrows (and furrowed even more in confusion) by saying "A 'spec' is close to useless. I have _never_ seen a spec that was both big enough to be useful _and_ accurate. And I have seen _lots_ of total crap work that was based on specs. It's _the_ single worst way to write software, because it by definition means that the software was written to match theory, not reality."

14 of 540 comments (clear)

  1. Linus Says No to 'Specs' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I heard he had good vision. --(o)~(o)--

  2. Linus: It's like real science. by loqi · · Score: 1, Funny

    Incase you were wondering if CS was indeed a "real" science or not.

    --
    If other reasons we do lack, we swear no one will die when we attack
    1. Re:Linus: It's like real science. by nickco3 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Having said that I don't think CS is a science.

      Yes, any subject with 'Science' in the title isn't. I forget where I heard it, but it is a useful rule of thumb.

      Computer science ... check. Political science ... check. Domestic science ... check. Social science ... check. Rocket science ... er, damn.

      --
      -- Nick "Hallo this is Beel Gates, und I pronounce weendows as ... WEENdows"
  3. Amen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Linus has spoken.

  4. No to Specs... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ..big _YES_ to underscores.

  5. Specs are for geeks by sore+loser · · Score: 1, Funny

    contact lenses a better choice.

  6. In other news by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 5, Funny

    Bill Gates says "Beta testing is for sissies".

    --
    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  7. What an idiot! by kevin+lyda · · Score: 5, Funny

    Who is this Linus guy anyway? I bet he's never managed a software project of any complexity.

    Personally I've found specs to be incredibly useful. I'm currently developing a middleware project that takes a complex search pattern and applies it to a streams of delimited character objects and while our team of 40 software software engineers has yet to actually start developing we've produced a fantastic spec that will greatly simplify coding it.

    I suspect we'll have this general regular expression parser up in running in less than 80 man years of effort thanks to our full and detailed specs.

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    1. Re:What an idiot! by CortoMaltese · · Score: 3, Funny
      Who is this Linus guy anyway?

      You remind me of Oolon Colluphid's trilogy of philosophical blockbusters:

      • Where Linus Went Wrong
      • Some More of Linus' Greatest Mistakes
      • Who is this Linus Person Anyway?
    2. Re:What an idiot! by dascandy · · Score: 2, Funny

      I did a public domain one in 3 days. Does that make me 5333 times as productive as any of you?

      Note to people impressed, I'm looking for a job actively :). Am willing to move virtually (IE, open a different X forwarding session).

    3. Re:What an idiot! by The+Evil+Couch · · Score: 2, Funny

      Well, that about wraps it up for Linus.

      --
      The World's Worst Webcomic!
  8. Andrew, is that you? by hummassa · · Score: 4, Funny
    Linus is an engineer/tech. He dislikes theory work because it often gives nothing in practice.
    Actually, I think he disklikes theory simply because he does not understand it! If Linux development becomes more based on theory than practical hacks, there will be no place for him on the top.
    You could at least have posted non-anonymously :-)
    --
    It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
  9. Re:Freudian typing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Proof-read

  10. Re:Linus Taken to Task by uncqual · · Score: 3, Funny
    Specs are rarely useful breasts up-front.

    A perfect example of why specs are useful -- without specifications, the Intelligent Designer's developers would end up developing too many models of women with non-standard breast placement. This would then require way too many bra models which would result in way too much confusion about how to remove them quickly -- it could have lead to the end of the human race before it really got a good start.

    --
    Why is there an "insightful" mod and why isn't it "-1"? If I wanted insight, I wouldn't be reading /.