[ruby-talk:02237] Re: Ruby and Eiffel

Andrew Hunt writes:
> Hal writes:
...
>     >The technique of programming "by contract" is a very
>     >appropriate method overall, but it is not unique to
>     >Eiffel. Oh, Eiffel's design certainly facilitates it,
>     >but it can be done in other languages.
>
> Well, that brings up an interesting question.  What do
> you think about implementing Design By Contract in a
> non-staticaly typed language such as Ruby?  I've toyed around
> with several implementations of DBC in Ruby, and once Dave
> and I get a bit more of the Ruby book finished I'll look at
> it again.
>
> But would that be a usefull feature to have in Ruby?

Nearly complete novice question: is there any (possible) overlap at all
between DBC (which AFAIK has something to do with specifying method
preconditions, postconditions, and invariants) and the sort of _optional_
type declaration stuff that is proposed/planned for Python 3000 (that is
supposed to help produce more efficient code and help detect errors earlier
on)?

Conrad Schneiker
(This note is unofficial and subject to improvement without notice.)