status of Programming by Contract (PEP 316)?

[Alex Martelli]

Michele Simionato <michele.simionato at gmail.com> wrote:
   ...
> I would not call that an attack. If you want to see an attack, wait
> for
> Alex replying to you observations about the low quality of code at
> Google! ;)

I'm not going to deny that Google Groups has glitches, particularly in
its user interface (that's why I'm using MacSOUP instead, even though
Groups, were it perfect, would offer me a lot of convenience).

We have a LOT of products (see
<http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/index.html>, plus a few more at
<http://labs.google.com/>;
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products> for an overview,
<http://searchengineland.com/070220-091136.php> for a list of more
lists...), arguably too many in the light of the "It's best to do one
thing really, really well" ``thing we've found to be true''; given the
70-20-10 rule we use (we spend 70% of our resources on search and ads
[and of course infrastructure supporting those;-)], 20% on "adjacent
businesses" such as News, Desktop and Maps, 10% on all the rest
combined), products in the "other" (10%) category may simply not receive
sufficient time, resources and attention.

We've recently officially raised "Apps" to the status of a third pillar
for Google (after Search and Ads), but I don't know which of our many
products are officially within these pillar-level "Apps" -- maybe a good
starting hint is what's currently included in the Premier Edition of
Google Apps, i.e.: Gmail (with 99.9% uptime guarantee), Google Talk,
Google Calendar, Docs & Spreadsheets, Page Creator and Start Page.

I do notice that Google Groups is currently not in that "elite" (but
then, neither are other products we also offer in for-pay editions, such
as Google Earth and Sketchup) but I have no "insider information" as to
what this means or portends for the future (of course not: if I _did_
have insider information, I could not talk about the subject!-).

Notice, however, that none of these points depend on use of Python vs
(or side by side with) other programming languages, DbC vs (or side by
side with) other methodologies, and other such technical and
technological issues: rather, these are strategical problems in the
optimal allocation of resources that (no matter how abundant they may
look on the outside) are always "scarce" compared to the bazillion ways
in which they _could_ be employed -- engineers' time and attention,
machines and networking infrastructure, and so forth.


Alex