Why are invariants important in Computer Science

Posted by Antony Thomas on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by Antony Thomas
Published on 2012-09-22T17:55:56Z Indexed on 2012/09/22 21:49 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 495

Filed under:

programming-languages

|

language-agnostic

|

great-programmer

|

invariants

I understand 'invariant' in its literal sense. I also recognize them when I type code. But I don't think I understand the importance of this term in the context of computer science.

Whenever I read conversations\white papers about language design from famous programmers\computer scientists, the term 'invariant' keeps popping up as a jargon; and that is the part I don't understand. What is so special about it?

© Programmers or respective owner

Related posts about programming-languages

Which order would you teach programming languages in, when teaching a newbie?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
If you had to design a study program, with a breadth-of-programming-languages requirement, which stated that the student should be exposed to all major concepts and methodologies that can be taught through (at the minimum) 6 programming languages, which programming languages would you choose to teach… >>> More
Extending Programming Languages

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
(Since I just posted this in another question, but my browser had to be annoying and submit it without content first, here it is again:) I'm a fan of clean code. I like my languages to be able to express what I'm trying to do, but I like the syntax to mirror that too. For example, I work on a lot… >>> More
Facebook Game Development - Which Programming languages?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi folks, I am going to develop a facebook game as topic for my thesis. I am wondering which programming languages i should choice. I am used to programming in .NET. But i am also comfortable in C++ and Java. I don't want to use Flash as the graphical frontend since i don't like it. So i guess… >>> More
Objective-measures of the power of programming languages

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Are there any objective measures for measuring the power of programming languages? Turing-completeness is one, but it is not particularly discriminating. I also remember there being a few others measures of power which are more limited versions (like finite-state-autonoma), but is there any objective… >>> More
Extending Programming Languages [closed]

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I'm a fan of clean code. >>> More

Related posts about language-agnostic

Are there any language agnostic unit testing frameworks?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
I have always been skeptical of rewriting working code - porting code is no exception to this. However, with the advent of TDD and automated testing it is much more reasonable to rewrite and refactor code. Does anyone know if there is a TDD tool that can be used for porting old code? Ideally you… >>> More
Language Agnostic Basic Programming Question

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
This is very basic question from programming point of view but as I am in learning phase, I thought I would better ask this question rather than having a misunderstanding or narrow knowledge about the topic. So do excuse me if somehow I mess it up. Question: Let's say I have class A,B,C and D… >>> More
Language-agnostic term for typed things that need memory

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Is there an accepted general term that subsumes the concepts of variables, class instances and arrays? Basically "any typed thing that needs memory". In C++, such a thing is called an object, but I'm looking for a more language-agnostic term. § 1.8 The C++ object model 1 The constructs in… >>> More
Deprecated Methods in Code Base

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
A lot of the code I've been working on recently, both professionally (read: at work) and in other spheres (read: at home, for friends/family/etc, or NOT FOR WORK), has been worked on, redesigned and re-implemented several times - where possible/required. This has been in an effort to make things smaller… >>> More
Coding Competition, language agnostic guidelines?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi there: I might be doing a coding competition soon, I was wondering if anyone made one and what where the guidelines/ process. I'd like to make the competition appealing to all devs, and I m trying to come up with ideas as to how. the scenario is: There is an event running and we(of the coding… >>> More