Name: Bob McElrath Date: 05/19/04-11:02:38 PM Z

Stavros Macrakis [[stavros.macrakis_at_HIDDEN-E-MAIL]] wrote:
> > We need to keep the theory and the code together and have
> > each one explain the other. How else can you show that the
> > code does what it is intended to do?
>
> That is a very hard problem in general.

Test cases.

While this does not *prove* the correctness of the code in a
mathematical sense, it does in a monte-carlo sense. I note that both
maxima and axiom have test suites.

I do not think new mathematical code or subsystems should be accepted
unless they are accompanied by a thorough test suite.

--
Cheers,
Bob McElrath [Univ. of California at Davis, Department of Physics]
    
    "A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely
    rearranging their prejudices." -- William James