status of Programming by Contract (PEP 316)?

[Jorge Godoy]

Russ wrote:

> Alex, I think you are missing the point. Yes, I'm sure that web
> searches are critical to
> Google's mission and commercial success. But the point is that a few
> subtle bugs cannot
> destroy Google. If your search engines and associated systems have
> bugs, you fix them
> (or simply tolerate them) and continue on. And if a user does not get
> the results he wants,
> he isn't likely to die over it -- or even care much.

But if this pattern of not getting wanted results is common, then the user
will migrate to alternative search engines and this will *kill* the
business.  Wrong results won't impact ONE search, but many will impact the
company business and will be part of the recipe to take it out of business. 

> Online financial transactions are another matter altogether, of
> course. User won't die, but
> they will get very irate if they lose money. But I don't think that's
> what you are talking about
> here.

Lets make someone loose his job and have all his money commitments
compromised because of this money lost and we might be talking about people
taking their lives.

Again, this isn't 100% sure to happen, but it *can* happen.  

As it happens with a peacemaker: the user won't die if his heart skips one
beat, but start skipping a series of them and you're incurring in serious
problems.

Just because the result isn't immediate it doesn't mean it isn't critical.