Re: up front designs always useless

From: Isaac Gouy (igouy_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 01/15/05 

Date: 15 Jan 2005 13:18:25 -0800

> I don't feel that upfront guesses are entirely useless. They are
> useful for at least getting the ball rolling but ultimately you
> cannot provide the answer before you know the question.
>
> The old upfront school thought you could. That is what I was taught
> in college, but never once in my 20 years since then did it happen
> like that!

Which old upfront school was that?
Old school 1970's stepwise-refinement?

"Students must be taught to be conscious of the involved decisions and
to critically examine and to reject solutions, sometimes even if they
are correct as far as the result is concerned; they must learn to weigh
the various aspects of design alternatives in the light of these
criteria.

In particular, they must be taught to revoke earlier decisions, and to
back up, if necessary even to the top."

Program Development by Stepwise Refinement, Niklaus Wirth, 7.3
http://www.acm.org/classics/dec95/