Conformance vs Comprehension
Summary
Intertwingly argues that the valuable asset in software has shifted from the code itself to the governance around it—conformance, standards, and tests. The piece examines Roundhouse, a compiler that emits multi-target code from a Rails app and verifies behavior via a conformance oracle, highlighting the distinction between spec tests and conformance tests. It concludes that cheaper conformance tooling will accelerate production of artifacts, but places greater emphasis on deciding which behaviors are worth standardizing and testing, with implications for the future of software creation.