[SystemSafety] Accuracy of COVID modeling code

[Derek M Jones]

Robert,

> Most commercial languages to not enforce typiing strongly because, I believe, you can get a bad program that
> compiles and runs into production quicker than taking the time to test a program into correctness.

Very true.

Unfortunately all the experimental evidence shows that the impact is
smaller than the variation between programmers and learning effects:
https://shape-of-code.coding-guidelines.com/2014/08/27/evidence-for-the-benefits-of-strong-typing-where-is-it/

> Non-strongly typed languages avoid type enforcement tests that would, in consequence, take time to fix when compared to
> strongly typed languages. I blame capitalism.

In terms of differences between what you get for 'free', there is little
difference between languages.

So called strongly typed languages provide functionality that developers
have to use to create contexts where checks can be made.

Compare C++ and Ada:
https://shape-of-code.coding-guidelines.com/2014/04/17/c-vs-ada-which-language-is-more-strongly-typed/

> bob schaefer
> research engineer
> mit haystack observatory
> 
>> On May 6, 2020, at 12:58 PM, Derek M Jones <derek at knosof.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>> Peter,
>>
>>>> I'm not aware of any evidence showing that any language is any better
>>>> than any other language with regard to reliable scientific computations.
>>> There is a large amount of work on the numerical accuracy of computations, going back many decades.
>>
>> Indeed there is.  How does this relate to one language being any better
>> than another?
>>
>> -- 
>> Derek M. Jones           Evidence-based software engineering
>> tel: +44 (0)1252 520667  blog:shape-of-code.coding-guidelines.com
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-- 
Derek M. Jones           Evidence-based software engineering
tel: +44 (0)1252 520667  blog:shape-of-code.coding-guidelines.com